Slytherins
by ti3
Summary: Told through the eyes of Rodolphus Lestrange, Slytherins is a coming of age epic about today's Death Eaters. It follows them from birth and childhood to death, imprisonment, marriage, and power. rated m for sexual content, language and violence.
1. My Baby Brother

**i just took down slytherins and i am slowly redoing all the chapters when i get the time to. here's chapter one, fully edited, all typos and mistakes fixed. i hope to have the rest of the fic up by theend of june.**

**enjoy. read&review.**

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Many secrets are kept about Slytherins, many questions left unanswered and thoughts left hanging on the edge of a cliff. Things are often left out of stories you hear about us; our childhoods, our moments of weakness, moments of lust. You only hear of the mass murders we helped the Dark Lord complete, of our glorious moments and of the hatred that others had to us. Not that those events aren't important. They helped shape and mold me into what I became. Many facades are put on to make us appear nobler and purer than we are. Those of us who came of age in the 70's were at the height of pure blood theory, many of us backing the idea and starting the fearsome group known as the Death Eaters.

I was a curious child, prying into things and often getting scolded by my mother for it. She was a sharp, fairly pretty woman, entering her thirties with dark brown hair. Mere always seemed to show up when I was doing something wrong, but she would simply pinch my cheek and tell me that being curious wasn't a bad thing. My parents were lenient, such was the way of the French and the home I grew up in. I could get away with anything, until Rabastan came along. I was going to turn three in October and he was born in August. I wasn't allowed to come anywhere near him for those first few months after his birth. He was a precious cargo, just as I had been. I only caught glimpses of my baby brother throughout the house. Mere never seemed to have time for me any more, constantly with 'Little Rabastan' in his nursery. I grew jealous of him because I didn't understand that the new baby needed attention. I was finally allowed to see more than a glimpse of him the first holiday that we had with our family after he was born. Mere and Father took off from their work. My father taught at Beuxbutons as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and Mere worked in the branch of the Ministry that housed in France.

We didn't really go on holiday, just stayed at home but together. The first time all four of us had been in quite a while. Mere came into the front living room of our Château, carrying Rabastan in her arms. At this time he was almost half a year old and a pale, thin baby. Mere let me hold him and when I noted that he didn't look well, she yanked him away and scolded me for being obnoxious.

"He's fine." She said, smoothing over the little tuffs of black hair that had begun to grow on his head. "There's nothing wrong with him. Nothing at all."

But Mere was wrong. Something was wrong with my baby brother, I could tell. Call it some odd ability to read your siblings, but he seemed to be sick and weak. That afternoon went by in a blur. I played a rigged game of Wizard's Chess with my father. I was still a toddler, so he would always bewitch my pieces and let me win. I always played with the black pieces, for those were the ones I saw Pere play with when he played his friends after dinner parties. I wanted to grow up and be just like him. He was my idol when I was small, my world which my mother and brother only lived in.

Mere didn't allow me to hold Rabastan again that day, he soon went to sleep and slept through the whole afternoon. Father noticed that he didn't look good either, but made no comment about it to Mere while in front of me. They never talked about important matters in front of us children. We were not to be burdened with such things.

They had taken two days off of work to spend time with us. The next day I still wasn't allowed to hold Rabastan but I noticed that he was sneezing uncontrollably. I no longer was jealous of him, I wanted to know what was wrong with my baby brother. That day was spent helping Mere cook in the kitchen, something the house elves often did, but that she wanted to because she liked it. We made tarts, my favorite sweet and she read Rabastan and I a story that night. Father lurked by, playing another game of Wizard's Chess with me and letting me win again.

The next day, when all went back to normal I decided to check on Rabastan in his nursery. I hadn't been in this room since the day that he was born. We were often left at home with the house elves and our Nanny. The Nanny stayed in the nursery, only running out to prepare us lunch. I stayed in my room most of the time or went outside and played around the gardens. Madame Mossiuer was an old pruney witch, late in her 60's but always filled with some story to tell me. I went into the nursery that afternoon, she wasn't in there. Rabastan lay in his crib, sleeping. He looked so peaceful but was so very frail. I wrapped my hands around the railing of the crib and looked at him for a while before something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. A bottle sat beside the rocking chair where Madame Mossiuer usually sat in. The contents weren't white like milk. No. They were a pink-purple colour. The bottle was half empty.

What were they feeding my little brother? Was it a potion? Or medication? Was this the reason why he constantly remained sick? Did my parents not love him enough to keep him?

I ran down the hallway, tears streaming down my face, screaming for Madame Mossiuer at the top of my lungs. Only a few people or incidents in my life have ever made me rouse enough emotion to cry. I was venerable back then, putty that needed to be molded. Madame came peddling down the corridor and I ran up to her, grabbing the bottom of her robes and tugging for her to follow me to the nursery.

"Dear little Roddie, whatever is the matter?" Her face had a worried expression on it and I didn't answer her, only tugging for her to follow me. Finally she gave in a followed me down the hall. I pointed to the bottle. "What is that stuff. Does it make Rabastan sick?"

She took the bottle up in her hands. "No. We'd never give him anything to make him sick dearie. Come here." She motioned for me to come and sit in her lap as she sat down in the chair. I did as told and sat in her lap, gazing up at her aged face. "Rabastan has got a little cold. That's a potion that is going to make him all better. Understand?"

It took a moment to sink in. So no one was hurting him, but he was sick like I'd thought. "A little cold?"

"Yes." She gave a nod of her head. "It's nothing for you to get worried about." Madame Mossiuer drew a kerchief from her deep orange robes and wiped the tears from my eyes. "He's just got a sniffle, nothing more."

Her words put me at ease then, but it wasn't just a sniffle. No it was far much more. Rabastan had a mild case of infant pneumonia, which he overcame a few days after my worry spell, but not before it got worse.

That night Mere came home. Pere lived at the school during the school year, so he wouldn't be home for a full month, when Spring Break came. I met her at the front door, the same way I always did and she hugged me and picked me up, cradling me with her thin arms and walked to the nursery asking me how my day went.

"Did you have any stories read to you?"

"Yes. One about a dragon and a wizard." I spilled into the story of Leo Black and how he'd helped defeat the dragons that used to inhabit Wales in the 1100's. My parents always had an interest in the goings on in my life. Later I would wish that these interests weren't there but for now I was happy that she was holding me and that I was getting attention. I didn't tell her that I knew that Rabastan was sick, even at the young age of three I knew that it was something I shouldn't know. Something that wasn't to be discussed with or around me. We entered the nursery and Madame Mossiuer nodded her head to mother and she put me down and walked over to the corner of the room, discussing something with her in a hushed voice. I walked over to Rabastan's crib and peered through the bars at him. He lay awake, dark blue eyes glancing about.

"He's warm….very warm." Madame Mossiuer whispered.

Rabastan sneezed.

"Coughing like crazy a few minutes ago."

Another sneeze followed by a cough.

"Was it serious?" Mere hissed.

More coughing, this time Rabastan shook and sputtered.

They both turned around, looking through into the crib. They turned back about and continued to talk, but this time I could pick up no words and each kept glancing back at the crib every few seconds.

Rabastan began to cough, loudly for a baby and Mere suddenly realized that I was in the room. She bustled over and pushed me out the door in a matter of seconds, shutting and locking it in my face. The last thing I saw before I was shut out of my brother's life was Madame Mossiuer picking him up as he spit out some flemmy substance.

Never did I leave that door. I remained standing outside of it and about half an hour later, Mere emerged, dashing down the hall to the kitchen and the fireplace. Madame Mossiuer followed her, carrying a bundle of blankets that I guessed to be Rabastan. "Come on Rodolphus." She grabbed me by the upper arm with her free hand and drug me down the hall after her. When we arrived in the kitchen Mere was standing in front of the fireplace, traveling cloak on and the head of a middle aged woman was in the green flames.

"Infant pneumonia?" The woman asked. "Oh dear. Come on in Madame Lestrange we will have a room ready." She was a stout little woman. Sickeningly cheery with rosy cheeks. Her accent wasn't French either, it sounded odd. Very different. It amazed me how different she sounded and I wanted to ask Mere where we were going and who the woman was but she took Rabastan from Madame Mossiuer and threw a handful of floo powder in the fire seconds after the woman's head disappeared. Stepping in she muttered something but I couldn't hear her for there were too many questions buzzing around in my head. Who was that woman? Where did they just go? What was wrong with Rabastan? I felt a bony hand enclose around my arm and looked up to see Madame Mossiuer smiling flakily down at me.

"Come on Rodolphus. Take my hand and don't let go. Understand?"

I nodded and she led me over to the fireplace and picked up a handful of powder. "Don't breath this in ok? And don't say anything either."

Again I nodded. Madame shakily threw a handful of powder into the red fire which quickly turned green. "Come on." She pulled me in with her and I felt the flames licking at my sides and my face. They were warm and I giggled inwardly at the situation. I was a master of fire! Being able to stand in it and not get burned. Madame Mossiuer's grip tightened on my hand before she said clearly, "Saint Mungo's," and I suddenly felt a jerk behind my navel and was spinning at a rapid pace. I wanted to throw up, badly. I couldn't see anything but a blur of green and I soon shut my eyes, which didn't really help my nauseous state. Suddenly we were in a brightly lit room, filled with people running about in green robes. I could see Mere at the far end of the room, handing Rabastan over to one of the people in green robes. She was the same woman from the fire in our kitchen, the one with the rosy cheeks and happy attitude. Mere was handing Rabastan over to her at the same time that I fell from the grate of the fireplace and fell to the floor.

"Come on Rodolphus. Get up." Madame Mossiuer helped me to my feet and Mere came running over as the healer disappeared with Rabastan. I felt sick and held my stomach, rocking back and forth on the balls of my feet.

"They're going to give him some potions, that should make him better." Mere stated to Madame.

"Good… good." She nodded, "Strange place this is. English right?"

Mere nodded and I didn't get a word that they were saying. She seemed to be about to burst from anticipation and worrying.

A healer came up to Madame Mossiuer and Mere, stating that they could see Rabastan in a few minutes time after the charms had been preformed and the potions given.

The rest of the night went by in a blur. I did throw up. Twice and was given some frothy pink fluid for my stomach.

We went to see Rabastan in a small room about an hour later. He still was very frail but didn't look half as pale as he had been before.

"He should be fine now. No worries of anything or kind. He'll have a little sniffle here and there but nothing too big." The cherry healer told Mere. Madame Mossiuer was in the background, muttering about the English and something about not being able to trust them. She had a far away look in her eyes and was rocking back and forth. She always was a little eccentric A few bits of paper work had to be filled out by Mere before we could leave. She placed Rabastan in my arms for Madame Mossiuer had fallen asleep beside me on a bench near the large fire place in the lobby.

I watched him as he lay in my arms. So tiny and frail. I made a pact then and there that I'd always take care of him. No matter what I would be there when my little brother needed me. He wouldn't get sick like this again.

We went back home through the fireplace and Rabastan and I were put to bed rather quickly but I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned, finally falling asleep in an uncomfortable position and falling into nightmares. He'd been sick and there had been nothing that I could do. I had just been drug along like a little zombie, not even trying to help. This shook me and I couldn't help but thinking that I wouldn't be able to keep the promise I'd made at Saint Mungo's. I woke up with a start, sweating and shaking. The nightmare had scared me, pushed me over the edge and rattle my young mind. I had dreamt that I was supposed to feed him the potion, but I couldn't because I didn't know how to brew it. So Rabastan turned into a toad and hopped out the window.

I crawled from my bed and crept down the hall to the nursery. Mere had already gone to bed and Madame home . There was a two way looking glass mounted on the right hand wall in Rabastan's room. Another one just like it resided in my parents' room. It was a way that they could see him when they couldn't be in the room. It carried sound as well as sight, so I crept quietly into the room and stared at him for a while. It was late, nearing midnight. His breathing was soft as he slept on his back with his little hand curled round a blue blanket. I watched him for the longest time as the shadows danced around the room. The moon shone brightly through the open window and I took some comfort in knowing that the big celestial ball was watching over my brother too. I decided that if I'd do my best to keep my promise. He'd never fall into such sickness again, not as long as his big brother was there. Not as long I had to watch him go through things like that.

I grew sleepy, soon falling asleep beside his crib where I slept until morning when Mere came in to find me there.

Rabastan stayed a little on the sick side until he was five and I was seven; always getting a real sniffle here and there, but I was always there. Sitting up with him late at night when he had fits of throwing up or running to get a tissue when his nose ran or he sneezed. I made it a point to always be there, keep my promise to myself and to him.


	2. Moving, Meeting, and Malice

The night sleeping beside his crib must have formed some odd bond between my brother and me because from then on he was my best mate, my one and only. Until I was nine he was my only companion. We invented games with a quaffle that we had, throwing and catching it. Father took us to several quidditch matches, both of us falling in love with the sport immediately. I taught Rabastan how to play Wizard's Chess and I soon played with him instead of Father on afternoons. I could beat Rabastan, but he was learning fast, beating me at least one out of three games.

I grew into a rather scrawny child, long limbs, tall, and lanky. Rabastan did the same way, though he was shorter. His hair took on a dark black colour where mine remained a shade lighter. I was the thinker, and Rabastan was the brave one, but I still needed him. I couldn't stand to be away from my little brother. The nursery soon vanished and turned into the room of a little boy, with toys where the diapers had been and a bed with dark black sheets instead of a crib with a blue blanket.

One day Father came home from work and immediately grabbed Mere and brought her into his study. I was nine at the time, Rabastan was seven. It was the last summer that we would be in France. I loved France, the pastry shops in the wizarding alley, the people, our Château. This was the only home I'd ever known but I'd sooner come to cherish the new house more than this one. We were playing in the garden when Father came into the house. I thought this was odd… since the teachers lived at the school during the year and only briefly came home on holidays. School wasn't supposed to let out for three more weeks. He'd told me so one of the countless times that I'd asked him.

"When will you come home?"  
"In three weeks. When school is out. Stop asking me. It's not changed." He would smile down at me and ruffle my hair, a tenderness that would later vanish in my adolescent years.

"Is it summer already?" Rabastan asked, holding the quaffle and not throwing it back to me. My hands, which were held out and ready to receive the red ball fell to my sides.  
"No. It's not?" I questioned more than stating. Why was he home three weeks early? Was something wrong? Rabastan and I knew better than to go snooping about and asking questions so we sat down in the garden; Rabastan rolling the quaffle around between his hands.  
"Why do you think he's home early?" His voice cut through the quietness of my thoughts and I was jerked back to reality.  
"I have no idea." I admitted.  
Rabastan turned to me, "Maybe his classes ended early so he came home to eat dinner."  
"It's going on 7 o'clock, classes have been over for a long time." I stated. What in the world was going on? I could suddenly hear hushed voices coming from his study. They were both speaking in French. Talking far too quickly and quietly for me to pick up anything. I could just hear the muffled tones, nothing more. My parents tended to speak in French to each other in hushed voices when something was wrong or when one of us was in trouble and they were debating the punishment. I'd done nothing to get in trouble for, Rabastan wasn't sick, so whatever they were talking about must be something else. Something was very wrong.

That night, Father was home for dinner. We ate in silence, which was odd for us. Usually someone talked. I liked that my parents treated Rabastan and I like we were adults, always talking to us in adult voices and never treating us like children. Though affairs not intended for children were never voiced to us, we felt like they kept nothing from us, but tonight they were hiding something. I could just tell, see it. I had this uncanny ability to read people since I often sat back and watched instead of saying anything. They both kept stealing glances at one another, nervous glances. This was a trait that I never saw in either of them.

I pushed the lobster around my plate before chancing a glance at Rabastan. He seemed to have noticed the silence too. As if we'd both planned this out, we looked up to our parents at the same time, forks positioned in our hands. They noticed this and Mere cleared her throat. Father then looked up to us, clearing his own throat in that way that meant he was about to tell us something of utter importance. Both of our forks went down to out plates at the same time, left there and forgotten.

"Boys- Rodolphus and Rabastan I mean….." He paused. I'd never seen him this frustrated before. Chevalier Lestrange was never a flustered man, lost for words. Mere blinked a few times in succession and I realized then that anything that could silence and baffle both of my parents at the same time must be something grave. When he didn't go on I said, "Yes?"

Father seemed to snap out of his reprieve and looked at us both again. "Boys, due to recent changes in my work profession, we'll be moving to England in two days."  
"That's the day after tomorrow." Mere stated as she stopped her blinking fit.  
"Why?" I asked. "Why are we leaving, moving I mean?" Father gave me a look, one that said, 'You'll find out later. It's not important now.' I knew then not to ask again. He'd tell me if he ever wanted me to know. So curiosity was pushed aside for obedience, for the time being at least.

Rabastan spoke up then. "Where are we moving to in England?"  
"Newcastle." Father said. "Now. Neither of us is going to work tomorrow. We'll pack then and be ready by nightfall, just incase."  
"Incase what?" I asked. I received another look and shut up, but he proceeded.  
"Just incase." He said. I'd never known either of my parents to keep things from my brother and me, unless it was one of those adult topics that weren't to be discussed with us. I guessed that it was a _very adult topic_.

Dinner went by in silence, no one speaking again. I remember that the only sounds present were the clinking of our forks against the blue china and the rustle of our two house elves, running here and there to refill our goblets and bring my brother and me dessert.

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Packing was an easy task, seeing as how we didn't really have to do anything. Mere and Father packed most of our things away with a wave of their wands and the house elves picked up whatever was left behind. The only thing not packed away was my quaffle. I wouldn't let the little ball be packed away for some reason. I'd wrestled it away from one of the house elves and had carried it around with me the whole day. This had been the ball I'd been holding right before my life had changed, right before I was to be told things that I couldn't ask about. The last time I'd held this ball, my world had made perfect sense. Now, I hoped that by holding it again that the red object would give me the answers that no one seemed to be able to supply me with at the time. Why were we moving? What had happened at Father's work? Why weren't we allowed to ask questions about this sudden change? The ball gave no answers but it offered me a sense of comfort. I took it everywhere with me that day, from the bathroom to the kitchen table.

An air hung over our house that day. One that signaled that we were leaving and might never come back again. I didn't want to leave. I truly didn't, but I had no choice in the matter for I was only a child living in a world ruled by adults and their conversations that they wouldn't let us in on.

The day went by quickly. Far too quickly. Father had disappeared to his study, talking with someone in the fireplace by floo powder. Their voices were a slight buzz that I could barely hear and couldn't make out and just as it had been with Mere, he spoke French in a very quick manner. Father wasn't present at breakfast and only for a short bit at lunch. He grabbed a bowl of soup and retreated to his study again. Mere seemed highly withdrawn, walking around the house and making sure that nothing had been left behind.

The place was empty except for the kitchen, where we stayed most of the day. The kitchen supplies were all to be packed up shortly before we were to leave. I wondered if we would leave that night or in the morning. Why was leaving at night an option? _Just in case what_? Questions that I didn't ask for I knew that they wouldn't be answered.

That afternoon Father came in to the kitchen and sat down at the table. He told Mere that the kitchen supplies could go ahead and be packed away; we were leaving as soon as the sun set. He waved his wand at a few things, helping Mere pack up. She scolded him for such actions.  
"They can trace magic at the Ministry. Stop using your wand." Mere stopped talking once she realized that Rabastan and I were in their presence and went back to packing up, but Father seemed to not notice us.  
"They're not going to snap my wand. They can only do something like that if you actually use if for—" He cut himself off, noticing then that we were there. Father disappeared to his study yet again, though nothing was left in the room, only the fire place.

All of our traveling cloaks were lain out on the table and our two house elves sat at the table with us while we waited. I still held tightly onto the quaffle, refusing to let it be stowed away. I got up from the table, growing tired of listening to my brother talking about something or another. I wasn't really listening so I had no idea what he was going on and on about. Mere had vanished into the front room with Madame Mossiuer whom she'd called upon. I guessed she was telling her that we were moving. Madame probably got the full reason on why we were leaving. All that I'd been able to gather was that it was something that could get my father's wand snapped in half, in Mere's opinion, but which the Ministry could do nothing about in his. We were also moving for something to do with his job. Had he been reassigned to teach at a school in England?

I hadn't noticed until then, when I was walking through the house by myself, that it was empty. All of our possessions had already been moved to the new house. I liked our Château in the mountains. I didn't want to leave, but of course it was the only home I'd ever know so that was to be expected. I wandered through the empty house, up the stairs and into my room. Like the rest of the house, it had been stripped bare, nothing left anywhere. I sat by the window for the longest of time, watching the red sun sink below the horizon.

"Rodolphus!" The voice shattered the small bubble I'd placed myself in while sitting on the window sill. Rabastan appeared at my doorway, his traveling cloak already on. "We're leaving. Mere said to come and get you."  
I watched him. He didn't seem to be shaken by this, didn't care that we were leaving our only home.  
"What?" He questioned, tilting his head to the side in that manner he always had.  
"Nothing. It's just…." Something occurred to me then as he handed me my traveling cloak. "Rabastan, how are we getting there?" I hadn't taken in to consideration how we would be traveling to our new home, and my question made for a nice change of subject.  
"Don't know." He said as the same wonder seemed to take him hostage as well. How were we to get to our new home? Rabastan shrugged as I fastened the buckle of my cloak, grabbed my quaffle and followed him out of the room. Once back in the kitchen, we found Mere ushering Madame Mossiuer out of the back door, bidding her good bye and talking in that same familiar French that was too fast for my brother and me to understand. Madame stopped in the doorway and smiled at Rabastan and me. She waved us goodbye and disappeared into the coming night.

For the next hour the five of us stood around in the kitchen; Mere standing by the back door, Rabastan and I near the space where the table once stood, and the two house elves beside the extinguished fireplace.

Father appeared after exactly an hour in the doorway to the kitchen. "Everyone ready?" He seemed extremely alert and held a small black bag in his hand. It was about the size of his palm with a gold string that kept it shut. "We'll be traveling by floo powder. I arranged a one way hookup that is only activated for five minutes. After that the line will be cut off, disappear completely. I'll take Rodolphus, you can take Rabastan." Father looked to Mere for a minute as she picked Rabastan up. He was getting awfully long and lanky, just as I was, so his feet hung down around her knees. Father turned to the house elves. "Go ahead and apparate." They both nodded and disappeared with a _pop_. He took my hand in his and told me to hold on to his robes with the other. Mere conjured a fire and Father threw in the powder. Rabastan and she went through first, then Father and I. His hand gripped tighter around mine as he said, "Lestrange Manor, Newcastle."

We appeared in a large room with a very high ceiling. It looked to be sort of a front room or entrance hall, with chairs here and there but a chandelier hung over head, the chandelier that had hung in our house back in France. It was large, with draping chains of diamonds and a hundred glowing lights. A large red rug led down the center of the room, covering the wooden floor. Father led me over this rug, by the hand. "Welcome to your new home. Our new home." I took in the whole of the room, staring around. "All of your things are already up in your room. Come on." He picked me up, a rare thing for him to do, considering my growing size and the fact that he believed that I was becoming 'a young man,' and led me through another room, which I took to be the living room and up a set of stairs. I didn't question his antic though or ask to be put down. I could tell that it gave my father a weird sense of security to carry me, and I didn't want to interrupt that. This mansion was as big as our old one but was completely different. It didn't have the winding hallways that seemed to lead to no where. This house was girded, straight, and planned out. It had a few curving turns but not nearly as many as the old one had.

"You and Rabastan have the whole West Wing." He explained.

Father carried me into a room that had a large black door shutting it off from the hallway. He cast the door aside, revealing a room. My room. It had all of my old belongings in it. My oak bed with the black and blue sheets, my broomstick, my dresser, my posters of famous quidditch players, and my mobile of different sorts of cauldrons and wands that used to hang over my crib. I guessed that it had been dug up by Mere and she'd decided to place it above one of the windows which made up half of the wall to the left of my bed. This wall gave way to small balcony. Father sat me down on the floor and walked over to the wall.

In the middle was a large section of window, framed by wood. A golden knob was set in the middle of the window. Father grasped the knob and turned it. I heard a soft click and the window turned out to be the door to the balcony. It swung out and Father ushered me on to the stone flooring.

I immediately saw the ocean and the beach. This was a place that our family had only visited but now we lived here. It was dark but I took in every inch that I could see. Darkness didn't seem to hinder my vision that night. I could see all. It was amazing. There was water and beach as far as I could see. A soft breeze whipped through the air, carrying with it the scent of salt and flowers. Flowers from a nearby garden. I tried to pin point the exact scent of those flowers. Pick out and identify what flowers might be growing there and who owned them. The only smell that I could discern was that of roses. I knew the smell so well for Father often gave roses to Mere on a regular occasion. He always picked out the softest shade of pink I'd ever seen.

"Rodolphus! Rodolphus!" I felt something tug at my cloak around my shoulder. I turned to see Rabastan standing there. He wore a large grin, all teeth clearly visible. "Rodolphus! It's the ocean!" His eyes were bulging out of his head so that he looked like an over-excited, bug eyed…. Well…. There's quite nothing to compare him to in that instant but himself. Rabastan always got so excited about things. Everything and anything seemed to perk him up. "The ocean!" He nearly squealed again, as if I hadn't heard him the first time.

"Yes. I know--I saw." I couldn't help but crack a grin that nearly rivaled his own. I loved to see him so excited. He blinked a few times before pointing to his right. "That's my room!"

Looking in the direction he pointed, I noticed that the balcony I was standing on continued on for another twenty to thirty yards. There was another door about fifteen yards away, mounted on a wall of windows like my own. A stretch of windows spanned from my door to his, our reflections looking back at us in it.

Rabastan noticed that I was looking at my reflection in those windows that seemed to not belong to his room or mine. "Oh! That's a little room thing between yours and mine." He grabbed me by the arm, pulling me past Father and Mere, who had come to stand beside him, and back into my room. He led me to another black door, opposite of my bed and yanked it open. We were in a small room only a few strides wide. One whole wall was made up of windows, the same ones that I had been looking in. There were a few chairs in the room, along with a mirror and a table. Rabastan pulled me across the room and through another door. I was met with his room, full of all the old things that had been in his room back in France; his bed, wardrobe, family portraits, and the red rug that took up the middle of his floor.

"See? Our rooms are connected by that little room!" That's just so-" Rabastan was too excited to communicate what he felt and I didn't bother to interrupt his silence.

I looked out the window, fumbling with the quaffle still gripped in my left hand. I didn't know the time, but I was sure that this was the latest I'd ever been up. Just as I was savoring my breaking of the normal rules that applied for bed time, Mere and Father came through the door that led to the balcony from Rabastan's room.. "Time for bed." Mere announced, walking over and ushering Rabastan to his bed.

Father did the same with me, pushing me by the shoulder blades back through the door, through the little interlude room, and into my own. He turned down the sheets of my bed and stood aside for me to crawl in. I did so but with a confused look on my face. Father pulled the covers up to my chest and patted the bed. He left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Mere came in a few minutes later, kissing me on the forehead and shutting the door between Rabastan's and my room. She left as Father had, shutting the door to the hallway behind her.

Rabastan came in a few minutes later, still fully dressed. "Did they forget that you're in regular clothes too?"  
"Yeah. I think they're both out of it." I pushed the blankets off of me and went over to my wardrobe, pulling it open and shedding the traveling cloak and pulling out a pair of red pajama pants and a white shirt. I quickly changed, leaving my dirty clothes and tennis shoes on the floor. In the mean time, Rabastan had been looking around my room.  
"Wonder why we moved?" He asked.  
"It's something to do with Dad's work… something about…. Oh I don't know!" I threw my hands up because I couldn't express what I was thinking. I was nine years olds and my whole life had stopped and started again. I was in a new house. My Father had been the reason that we had to leave. All I knew was that it was something to do with his work, something that the Ministry could track his wand for, and that it had been a big enough deal for us to move. I didn't know any more than that.

Rabastan shook his head and sat on my bed. "What's wrong with them?"  
"I don't know that either." I hated not to be able to supply my little brother with the answers to questions that I could tell by looking at his face, he was so eager to know. "We should get to bed. They could come back in here and check on us again or Chiffon and Fife could have heard us and run to tell that we aren't sleeping." I just wanted to get him out of my room before he asked me another question that I couldn't answer.

Rabastan nodded and disappeared through my room, leaving the door open behind him. I didn't bother to close it for I noticed that he'd also left his own open. Obviously it was something he'd intended to do. As I crawled into bed, I could see him getting dressed in the dark. He stumbled a time or two and I had to shove the blankets in my mouth before I busted out laughing at him. It was such a funny sight to see him struggling with his shirt and hitting his knees on the toy box at the end of his bed to only fall face and shirt first into the blanketed surface.

I rolled over on my side and buried my face in my pillow. It still smelled like our old home. I wondered what other rooms this house held and how long I'd live here. Would we move again? I finally fell asleep, thinking about the roses I smelled earlier.

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Mere was what you might call a social butterfly. She was always introducing my brother and me to tons of people, bragging on our little achievements and such. So it came as no surprise to me when I found her sitting on my bed the next morning, gently shaking me back to reality. "Roddie. Get up. We're going to meet an old friend of mine. She has three daughters. Rabastan and you can make play mates with them."

I immediately rolled over, huffing ,"Girls," under my breath. I didn't really want to go gallivanting about with little prissy, primped up things. Girls were always so fragile and you could never be rough with them. They constantly played with dolls and wore dresses.

She shook me by my shoulder again and smoothed my hair off of my forehead. "Come on. Get washed up. We can't have you looking like you've just crawled out of bed."

"But Mere. I_did_ just crawl out of bed." This was my morning routine. I would always mess with her for as long as I knew I could get away with before crawling from the depths of my bed and doing as she wished. I don't know why I did it. Maybe it was to see the smile that always crossed her face when at this early hour of the morning. Mere saw that I was making a slight effort to drag myself from the bed, so she left for Rabastan's room to wake him up. Five minutes later, she was walking back to my room with him trailing behind her. "Come on. You get to see you're new bathroom."

This morning I noticed something that I'd neglected the night before. There was a sort of front room to my own. It was a sitting room sort of thing, like a foyer to a house, but to a room instead. How had I missed this the night before? I had to have walked straight through it and through the archway on the left to even get to my room. My only explanation would have been if I ran straight past it all. The room only contained a couch and a table with a lamp, but I still found it near impossible to have missed. "Do you have a room like this at the front of yours?" I asked Rabastan as Mere directed us out of my bedroom door and into the corridor.

Four doors appeared in front of us. Two of them were made of oak with a glass window set in the center. The window was impossible to see through. To the right of these two doors were two French windows with brass doorknobs and velvet red curtains draped about them.

"Yeah… I do-what do these doors lead to?" Rabastan seemed to be more interested in the doors than fully answering my question.

Mere nodded to the middle one, as she had a hand placed on each of our shoulders, "That's your playroom. For now. When you get older it will turn in to more of a sitting room for the two of you. That's where most of your toys and things are. Those other two doors, lead to your bathroom." She pushed us through the oak door with a window farthest to the left.

We were in a white marbled room. In front of us stood a very large mirror mounted atop a black marble counter. To the left was a shower, completely concealed in glass. I noticed that the room seemed to loop around a corner to the right, so I followed the loop. The bathroom continued on. I stood in the middle of a little curve that led to the rest of it. Windows were to my right and a door to my left. I guessed that the door led to a toiletry. I continued around the loop, sunshine now pouring into the white marbled room, making everything seem by luminescent. I found myself looking at two sinks mounted into another counter against the wall in front of me, another mirror above the surface of the marble. In the center of this side of the room there was a large garden bath, that at my current size was almost like a pool.

Rabastan began to jump up and down excitedly. "This is OUR bathroom? It's so… so…"  
"Unbelievable." I finished. Five minutes later Mere had us separated and doing different things. She left the bathroom, leaving Rabastan in the tub and me brushing my teeth, already bathed. I could hear him splashing around in the tub. "Did Mere tell you that we were going to meet girls?"  
The splashing stopped quickly. "Really?" He asked.  
"Yeah. I er….suppose she's going to want us to act like 'little gentlemen.'" I put the toothpaste on the brush and began to work at my teeth.  
"Uhhhh!" I heard him fall back into the water and took the moment of silence to finish brushing my teeth.  
I spit the white paste from my mouth and said, "Might as well get it over with, but she's not putting me in dress robes."  
"Me neither." Rabastan squealed, jumping naked from the water and wrapping himself in a towel.  
I bit my lip and wandered from the room, across the hall to my own to get dressed.

Thank Merlin that we didn't have to wear dress robes. Mere was happy to let each of us go the way we were; Rabastan in pants and a t-shirt and myself in shorts and a ¾ sleeves shirt. Tennis shoes were on each of our feet. She was dressed though in pink robes. "We'll walk. Druella knows that we're coming. Besides, wouldn't you boys like to see the beach?" Rabastan immediately nodded his head so roughly that I thought he'd get whiplash and snap his neck if he didn't stop. I was excited too. About the beach, not about meeting three little girls who would probably giggle themselves silly.

We left the house by way of the back door, which led to the beach. Mere led us down the stone steps which gave way to the sand. "Try not to get dirty." She remarked as Rabastan's eyes grew twice their normal size at the sight of all the sand. It's amazing how little boys love to get dirty. They see dirt and are attracted to it like dementors to fear. Truly amazing. For the walk, he stayed away from diving into the sand, but mumbled to me, "When we come back…." And I could only guess what he was to do.

Mere pointed to a manor a bit off. Only one house stood between ours that that one and it was nestled far back into the ridge of a cliff of rock. The manor was a white, cream colour with balconies like our own though much larger and it had a large garden at the front of the estate, with fountains and hedges. The back of the house faced the ocean just as ours did.

"That's the Black Manor, where we're headed. An old friend of mine lives there. I met her at a coming out party a few years back. I understand that she has three daughters now. Lovely little girls from what I'm told. Except for the oldest. Druella tells me that she's charming but a bit of a handful." Mere grinned down at us. "I think she has two nephews as well but I'm not sure if they're here or not. They were a few days ago but I've not spoken with her since."  
My ears perked up.

"One your age." She looked to my brother. "And another a few years younger."  
Oh fun! Two lovely girls, one charming one, and two boys both younger than I. At least they were boys though. I might be able to have some sort of fun after all. Just maybe.

We neared the house and Mere knocked on the back door. A small little elf came to answer the door. "Masters and Madame are here. Freem is telling his Madame now!" He bade us enter and the square nosed creature ran off, skipping slightly. I noticed that we'd come to a back sitting room from the looks of it. Everything was either a dark blue in hue or purple, from the couches to the rugs. Mere ushered us in a closed the door behind us.

Minutes later a tall, thin woman with sandy blonde hair came into the room. She wore light blue robes and had a pair of reading glasses perched on her head. "Oh! Lauriette!" Her and my mother exchanged quick hugs, like old school girl friends meeting up before the woman I took to be Druella turned to face us.

"And these are your boys?" She asked, eyeing us both up.  
"Yes yes. Rodolphus and Rabastan." My mother indicated, nodding her head to each of us in turn.  
"They're quite the little gentlemen. Speaking of which, I've been landed with my nephews again. Lovely little boys but--" She was cut short by a crash upstairs and a short giggle followed by a squeal. "Bella and Sirius tend to rough house a bit."  
Mere nodded, smiling as another squeal issued from above us.  
"Would you like to meet them?" She asked us, though not really wanting an answer. We were to meet the five of them by force anyway, so Rabastan and I both nodded our heads. "Come on then. I think they're in the guest room that Regulus and Sirius are sharing." Druella led us through the back sitting room and into the front hall. I noticed that it too had a chandelier but it was a dark one, black in hue with candles instead of lights. We were directed up a set of stairs, onto a landing. The East Wing of the house must have belonged to the children as the West Wing did at our own house, for the doors to their West Wing were shut tightly and by the looks of it, locked.

"Where's Chevalier?" She asked my mother.  
Mere answer in a hushed whisper. "He's out. At the moment."  
"Oh."

We turned to the right, heading down a corridor with blue carpet and large windows at the end of it through which the sun was pouring through. There were four doors on this hallway, each one different. It looked up ahead, as if the hallway turned to the right. We stopped at the first door on the left, which was open. I could hearing the giggling and squealing that I'd heard downstairs, mixed in with a few thuds and crashes. Druella gave Mere a rather apprehensive look and then led us into the room.

The children seemed to sort of be segregated by hair colour. A small blonde girl was sitting in a chair, tall postured and playing with a porcelain doll. She herself looked to be made of the same material, looking as if one were to even touch her she'd crumble into a thousand pieces. She wore a set of frilly pink robes and her hair had a slight wave to it. She put the other girls that I knew to shame. I'd never in my life met one this girly. Another girl, with hair that wasn't as platinum blonde as the first but more of a dirty blonde colour sat on the floor in a corner, nose buried deep within a thick book. She didn't seem to notice anything going on about her. The book was her world and held her attention. Her own set of light blue robes were ironed to perfection. Nothing was out of place on her. She looked to not be the type to cross. None of the girls that I'd ever met were smart like this, most of them stared after boys or played little games. Next I noticed a small little boy with coal black hair that was cut so that it fell gracefully around his face, a tad longer than Rabastan's spiky hair. He squealed and went into a giggle fit, clutching the sides of his shirt.  
"GET HER SIRIUS!"  
In the middle of the room were the two that were at the center of attention. It was hard to tell who was who. All I saw was a mess of black hair, black robes, and blue jeans. I heard a squeal again and guessed that one of them was the missing daughter that didn't seem to be around the room. Honestly… a girl behaving in such a fashion? This was truly different. Extremely different from how I knew any girl to behave. Then again, the behavior of the other two was different as well. I guessed that things were really different in England.

They were both rolling on the floor, one had a hold on the other's hair and the other had olive coloured hand clasped around the other's neck. Finally one of them managed to upturn the other and sit on them. Sirius, who I assumed was the boy, judging that his hair was shorter, had pinned the girl to the ground. He straddled her stomach, holding her wrists down by her head. He wore a stupidly large smirk on his face.  
"I win." He said simply.  
The girl must have been the one that Mere had mentioned. The charming handful. Her face had a slight tinge of red to it and she kicked against him. Sirius let the kicks hit his back, obviously too happy with beating her.

"No you haven't!" She flipped him over, rolling on top of him. "I win. You lose." She gave a slight pat to his cheek and pulled off of him, straightening up and dusting herself off. Her hair was coal black, like both of the boys and her skin wasn't the pale colour that her sisters' was. It was a shade darker, but not as dark as Sirius and his younger brother. She looked like someone you didn't want to mess with or even think of crossing. I took this to be 'Bella.'

"Oh… mother…." She looked up, realizing for the first time that others were there. "Who is this?"  
She talked like she was an adult, equal to Mere and Druella in every way. She talked as if nothing had happened at all. Sirius jumped up to his feet and the other three seemed to notice that three strangers stood in the room.

"Bellatrix, Sirius." Druella looked at helplessly at her daughter and nephew, then turned to Mere. "If they aren't trying to kill one another then they're scheming together."  
Mere nodded before Mrs. Black turned back around. "Well you've met Bellatrix, and Sirius." She indicated them both with a wave of her hand. "They're quite the entertainment. My oldest daughter, and oldest nephew." Next she indicated the little black haired boy. "Regulus, Sirius's younger brother. The one with the book is Andromeda, my second oldest, and that's Narcissa, with the doll." Each of them looked up at us, Bellatrix just standing there, Sirius tilting his head to the side, Regulus giving a shy little wave, Andromeda nodded her head, and Narcissa giving a smile. For the next few years, these were to be my companions. I would grow distant from some and far too close to others.

Narcissa never strayed far from her doll house or from her dolls. Andromeda hardly ever joined in on anything we did. She was a loner and preferred her books, often scolding us for being rough. Sirius and Regulus were like the brothers that I and Rabastan never had. They were always there, willing to play and ready to rough about. Bellatrix was there too. She never liked doing many girlie things. Dolls bored her to death and books were a waste of time. She liked to learn through life rather than from another's writings.

Her and Sirius were exactly alike but just the opposite as well. He always knew how to push her and pushed her until she snapped. Sirius enjoyed messing around with her but if Bellatrix got hurt, which happened a few times, he'd be the first one there at her side. Bellatrix didn't seem to notice that she was a girl, or at least it didn't seem to bother her. She always played with the four of us, never made excuses, and wasn't afraid to get dirty. Her sisters seemed to fear dirt whereas she could care less if it was on her or not.

The Blacks had a large manor which I soon knew inside and out as if it were my own home. Our play ground became the beach, my house, and theirs.

Bellatrix and Andromeda received brooms that Christmas. They both naturally took to quidditch. Sirius and Regulus were the same way when they got they're own a few days later. Narcissa never took to flying though. It would mess her hair up. All six of us began playing mock games but Andromeda always grew tired and claimed to miss her books too much. She'd land and leave us to carry on. Bellatrix never quit and neither would Sirius as long as she remained on her broom. It was a competition to them to see who could stick it out the longest and Regulus wouldn't leave his broom either for he admired both of them so and didn't want to leave their sides.

We often played quidditch over the Blacks' gardens or over the beach. It we actually wanted to score, we'd travel to my house where we had a goal put up for Rabastan and I when he turned eight. We were playing here on the day that I met Lucius Malfoy. It was the last summer that we would all be together. Bellatrix and I hadn't received our letters for Hogwarts yet but they were to come in a few days' time.

Mere and Druella had stayed behind at the Black Manor, letting all of us wander over to our manor and be watched by my father. He sat at a table on one of the balconies, The Daily Prophet in his hand, reading glasses on. Occasionally, he'd glance up and make sure that none of us were injured or anything. Rabastan and I still had no idea why we'd moved and Father had found a new job. One at the Ministry of Magic in London. I had no idea what he did but I knew he had a job and that seemed to be enough for me at the time.

It was a warm day, even Andromeda had left her book for the game, playing on a team with Bellatrix and Regulus. Narcissa remained with her doll, the same one that she had been playing with when I first met her. Sure she had plenty others but this one seemed to be her favorite with its blue dress and blonde hair with pink ribbons.

Sirius and Bellatrix never played on the same team. Opposing each other was half the game to them.

"If it bounces off his head, it's still in play!" "But it didn't bounce of his head. It landed on the ground!"  
"Rodolphus!" Sirius rounded on me. "Please tell Trixie hear that the ball hit your noggin and not the ground."  
I gave a small smile and threw my hands up. "I'm not getting in to this."

"That's as good as a no." Snapped Bellatrix, taking the quaffle from Sirius. "Our ball." Just as she threw it to Andromeda for her to begin the play with, a loud popping sound issued forward. Mere and Druella had apparated and were standing just below us with a boy that looked to be our age and two blonde adults, one male, the other female.  
"Who is that?" Regulus asked.  
"No clue." Answered Sirius and Bellatrix together. They glared at one another as if it were they're phrase and the other had stolen it from them.  
Druella was talking and pointing up at us. Bellatrix sighed, lying down on her broom. "And the game stops because some blonde twit walks in with two adults."  
"Apparated in." Corrected Sirius.

She smiled at him but it quickly disappeared. The 'twit' remark had obviously reached the boy's ears. His blonde head turned up to us and I could see his gray eyes flicking over us each, before coming to land on Bellatrix and singling her out as the culprit. She rolled her eyes and dismissed it.

I could see Andromeda shaking her head out of the corner of my eye. Soon the party was up on the balcony with Father, talking. The boy hung back, watching all of us before inspecting his fingernails. He was arrogant. I could tell that already and had a superior attitude, the same attitude that Bellatrix had.

Andromeda threw the quaffle to sister, screaming "Bella!" shortly before it was to hit her. Bella was a nickname, one that everyone of us in the air called her. Regulus shortened it to 'Bell' and Sirius would rather throw in 'Trixie' because he knew it bothered her. The blonde boy's head shot back up, watching Bellatrix catch the quaffle, barely moving on her broom as she did so and not fully sitting up either. Andromeda sped off to the ground, landing and immersing herself in a book.  
"Well she's gone for the rest of the day." Regulus announced.  
"Unless we use that precious book of hers as a quaffle." Bellatrix said, watching her younger read below her. Sirius chuckled and acted as if he were to go and retrieve the book but stopped after acting like he was about to dive for it.  
"It's uneven… how are we going to play?" Rabastan asked.  
I was always the quiet one. I sat back and let the others talk. I preferred watching most of the time.  
Bellatrix and Sirius shrugged. "The lovely company seems to have ruined our fun. Rodolphus, you should go and play a good host. Show him the door before you slam it in his face." She hissed, watching him.  
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Give up the ball then!" Bellatrix threw it over her shoulder at him and sat up on her broom.  
Mere was directing us to come and land, to stop our game for a minute. Druella was calling over the balcony to her two daughters, instructing them to come up and greet the company. They did as told, Andromeda harboring her book and Narcissa her doll.  
A few minutes later, after we'd all landed and the land loving two had made it up to the balcony we were introduced.

"…. Abraxas, Latona, and Lucius Malfoy…."

Father knew Abraxas. They worked together at the Ministry and Bellatrix's father, Cynus, knew him as well. We'd never met his son or his wife before though but I recognized the patriarch of the family immediately for he'd stopped by our house a few times.

Lucius was released to us for the next few hours while his family talked to our own, minus Mr. Black, for he was away on business to do with work. Everyone that was important seemed to work in the ministry. Andromeda went back to reading and Lucius came up into the air with us. His father had conjured his broom for him shortly after the three mothers had disappeared inside the house. Rabastan shifted over to Bellatrix and Regulus' team and Lucius joined Sirius and I. Lucius, I found out, was just as aggressive on a broom and Sirius and Bellatrix were.

After an hour, the Fathers had disappeared into the house as well, and no goals had been scored. Regulus, once pushed was a match to rival his brother and Bellatrix and Lucius seemed to be going at it. This was the first time but it wouldn't be the last. Each of them had a determined look in their eyes and they began to get rougher and rougher with one another.

Bellatrix stole the quaffle from Lucius, passed it to Regulus, who passed it back. He seemed to have gotten skittish with the taller and older child coming after him. Lucius had quickly changed velocity. He was gaining speed on Bellatrix and was soon flying above her. He let go of his broom and twisted around so that he could easily grab the quaffle, but Bellatrix had seen him coming and dove lower. Lucius quickly regained his grip and followed her to her dive to the ground. He straightened up as she did, both now only five feet form the grass. Finally, he gave up and I could tell that this had been coming. This had been what he'd wanted to do from the beginning.

Lucius let go of his broom and jumped, landing on Bellatrix. She let go of her broom and the quaffle, plummeting the five feet to the ground. The ball went soaring into the air and I caught it. Sirius, Regulus, Rabastan, and I all stopped in mid air and watched the two tumble to the ground "He's gonna get it." Sirius winced, looking away.  
Neither of them moved for a minute, and Regulus went to speed out for them, but I held him back.

Finally we heard the scream we'd been waiting for. Bellatrix pushed Lucius off of her, giving him a kick in the ribs. He allowed it to happen, and rolled over, pushing himself up off the ground. Bellatrix followed suit.

"You cheated! FOUL!"  
"Did I? I thought tackling was perfectly in the rules." He smirked, quite happy to get her riled up.  
"Tackling is! Chasing after with intent to kill ISN'T!"  
"Can't we just get back to the game?" He mounted his broom and kicked off, waiting for her to the same.  
Bellatrix did and sped to me, wrenching the quaffle from my grasp and hurling it at Lucius' head. He hadn't expected this and it hit him roughly. He caught the ball on the rebound though, holding it in his hands.  
"What's wrong, Bella?"  
"Don't you dare call me that! It's Bellatrix to you." She wouldn't be made a fool of, wouldn't be over powered.  
"Did I upset you?" He threw the quaffle roughly back to her. I wasn't sure if he intended it to hit her or not but she caught it and hurled it back at lightening speed.  
"You're nothing but an arrogant, egotistical pretty boy!" Bellatrix screamed, as he caught the quaffle.  
"Just like you Trixie, but not a girl…" Sirius muttered.  
"Or is he?" Rabastan threw in.  
"I don't know his hair_is_ kind of long." Sirius said, smirking.  
I busted out laughing and Lucius scowled at me. I returned the favor. The quaffle was thrown back to Bellatrix. She had to stretch to catch it, something probably done by him on purpose.

He rolled his eyes. "Sorry to upset you, BellaTRIX. I play roughly though. Can't help it." He gave her a leering smile and she only watched him. "Please forgive me though. I didn't mean to." He gave her a knowing glance and it seemed as if he meant it. For some reason I felt something rear up inside of me and I wanted to beat Lucius to a pulp, till he couldn't move. The feeling slowly went away.

Bellatrix threw the quaffle to Regulus. "Fine but tackle me again and I will kill you." She scowled at him. Lucius smirked. "I can only try."

From that moment on they would compete against one another. I can't remember a day that went by when they weren't at it again. They were so much alike too. Both dominating, arrogant, imperious, and too determined to ever let the other win. They often tied or one would beat the other only by a hair. Anything and everything they did turned into a game to them, from not talking to seeing who would swim the farthest in the ocean. A friendship based on rivalry had begun and the only thing that the rest of us could do was to sit back, watch, and throw in comments to insult Lucius whenever the occasion proved fit.


	3. Whipped Cream with a Side Order of Tears

**got up two chapters in one day. go me. alright. i've edited, changed the names of the three black sisters' parents, and fixed a few typos. read&&review**

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"You think that…that….that _thing's PRETTY_?"

"It was meant to be a negative comment."

"Suuuure."

The seven of us were all in the girls' kitchen, each digging into a sundae. It had been only a few days since we'd met Lucius and Sirius and I were keen to get Bellatrix riled up at any given moment by mentioning him. Sirius didn't seem to be able to get over the fact that Bellatrix had called the little snot nosed peroxide a "pretty boy." So, he was now known to burst out with something like this at any given interval.

"You think he's pretty." Sirius cocked out with a smile.

Bellatrix looked up from her bowl. "For the last time, I do no—give that back."

Sirius had seized the moment of irritation to prize the cherry from the top of her sundae and was now dangling it over his open mouth. He looked away from it just long enough to make sure that she was watching and then dropped the cherry into his mouth. Swallowing it in a gulp, he licked his lips.

"Make me."

He'd given her the invitation to begin the war and without warning, Bellatrix grabbed her bowl, slid it in front of Sirius and just as he was eying it shoved his face into it. Sirius left out a muffled squawk before jumping up. He was a mess, face covered in whipped cream and revenge clearly buried somewhere under the white substance. It was on and everyone else in the kitchen knew it. His hand shot out, grabbing the nearly full can of whipped cream on the counter and a devilish smile came to his face.

"You wouldn't dare." Bellatrix taunted him.

"Wanna bet? You're gonna get it, Trixie." Sirius launched himself at her. Bellatrix fell off of the counter, which she'd been sitting on, landing on the floor with a rough smack. Sirius landed on top of her mere seconds later. She was kicking and screaming, just like she'd been the first time I'd met her, but none of us interfered. We knew not to get in the way of their little spats.

"Ruffians." Andromeda scoffed. She left her ice-cream on the table and retreated up to her room, shaking her head at the lot of us. Just as she disappeared from sight, I saw the edge of a set of hot pink robes vanish around the corner, heading for the dining room. Narcissa's bowl of ice-cream was missing.; the perfect little child obviously didn't want to get dirty with whipped cream.

"Ah. Could you two keep it down?" I interjected. Bellatrix had screamed and I only wanted to make matters worse for her. The two had disappeared behind the other side of the counter and seconds later, the whipped cream can came flying from behind it, clearly aimed for my head. I ducked just in time, barely avoiding the can as it went zooming over my head.

"Hey. Watch it, will you! That nearly hit me."

"It was supposed to." Bellatrix hissed.

"Aim a little better next time then." I loved messing with her, just to watch her fly off the handle. Loved it.

I was tired of not knowing what was going on and leaned over the counter. I choked, sucking in a lung full of air before falling down on the counter with laughter. Bellatrix was covered in whipped cream. It was all over her, in her hair, on her clothes, splotched on her face, and judging by the way her cheeks were puffed out, Sirius had managed to force her mouth open and squirt it full. After several more minutes of crude struggling and wrestling, she jumped up, raging. Spitting the whipped cream on Sirius, she stormed upstairs to her room, mumbling the whole way.

"Ew. Not very lady like Trixie." Sirius sucked in his stomach, trying to stop the sopping whipped cream from leaking through his shirt to touch his skin.

"You know you're in for it, right?"

"Yeah, Rodolphus. But I'm always in for it. Aren't I? Knowing Bellatrix means that you're in for it every day." He explained while trying to rip the shirt off over his head.

I nodded. Knowing Bellatrix was like knowing a wound up snake. She'd sit by and take as much as she could, then explode.

That was the last time that we were all together before. Bellatrix and I were to be off to Hogwarts two days later. We would slowly be split apart, form our own groups. It was one of the last times when we were all so innocent. We'd be corrupted soon enough and going to school would change our lives forever.

Druella and Mere waited till the day before we were to leave for Hogwarts to take us to Diagon Alley for our supplies. The two of them insisted that Lucius come with along, since he would be entering Hogwarts with Bellatrix and me. And I much as I disliked the thought of having him along for the ride, I had no choice in the matter and would have to sit there and "just deal with it" as Mere had already told me when I'd tried my best to talk her out of it.

That morning we apparated to the Black Manor to find Lucius and Latona already there. Lucius and Bellatrix were seated on opposite sides of the living room and locked in a staring contest. By now I was used to their competitions and was grateful that for once, they weren't doing something dangerous. I walked over and sat down on the arm of the chair Bellatrix was in.

"Going to give up?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Because why?" I looked up. Lucius was angry. I'd taken Bellatrix's mental attention away from him.

"Just because." She was too determined not to lose and I could tell that she didn't like me questioning her.

Suddenly, I had a plan.

"Just quit."

"Why?

"Because this is stupid. Besides, it's not even dangerous." I'd hit something there. I could tell. Her facial expression changed slightly and she became less rigid. It was working. Bellatrix couldn't stand doing things that weren't in the least bit challenging and that didn't give her some rush of adrenaline, and a staring contest didn't fall under either of these categories.

"Come on, just quit."

"Why should I?" She demanded.

"Come on Bella, you're not even proving anything but who can stare off in space while pretending to look at the other for the longest amount of time." She didn't seem swayed by that, so, I decided to throw in the last weapon I had. "Do it for me?"

Slowly, she looked away, eyes coming in contact with mine. I turned my head in time to see Lucius storming from the room. I'd won. I had her attention.

The rest of the day was a blur of going into shops, trying on robes, getting a wand, and all the mayhem that went with school shopping. The three mothers took over everything, leaving the three of us to just mill about behind them. I remember getting our wands. Each of us received odd looks from the man who ran the store while he muttered something about dark magic and tragic years to come.

Each of our wands was different, each suiting the owner. Lucius' wand was ebony, with a dragon heartstring core; extremely powerful and dangerous. Bellatrix's was a blackened rosewood with a runespoor fang core; very powerful in the dark arts. My own was holly with a chimera scale core; very rare, but very powerful. The other thing that I seem to remember from that day was planting a frog in some aged woman's tea outside of a shop. It was Bellatrix's idea, of course. And the woman, wearing squared glasses and a green plaid set of robes screamed when she went to drink her tea and the frog leapt out onto her crooked hat. The three of us ran off around the corner, thinking we'd not been seen and laughing like mad the whole way.

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I crawled into bed that night, everything packed away and ready for the morning. And just as I was going to sleep, Rabastan burst into my room, face strewn with tears. I jumped up, falling out of the bed and landing on the floor. "Dear Merlin. What's wrong ?" He must have thought that I was angry for he only started to sob louder. I quickly jump up, running over to him.

"What's wrong?" I asked again, trying to sound as nice as possible and disgusting myself all the same.

"D- d- don't' leave me!" His arms threw themselves around me and I was locked in.

"I'm not. What happened?" I had no idea on what he was on about.

"You're leaving. Tomorrow. And you're not coming back."

Oh. He was talking about school. I guessed that he'd had a bad dream about me leaving and not coming back. "I'm not leaving you. I'll be back for Christmas. And in two years, you'll be coming along. Don't worry about it." He sobbed again, refusing to let go.

"I'm not leaving you." I repeated "I'll never do that. I promise."

It was another promise for me to keep and I intended to. Smoothing over his hair, I wrapped my arms around him. "I'm not leaving you."

He seemed to calm down a few minutes later, shoulders still shaking. He threw up several times that night, running back and forth between the bathroom and my room, before he settled down. Rabastan crawled into bed with me that night and I made no objections whatsoever. It took me quite some time to fall asleep. My mind was racing with images of my brother crying, the train breaking down on the way to the station during Christmas break. I'd managed to get by nine years without anything like this happening again, without being scared to death of what would happen to my little brother. But now, it was back and was ten times worse. He was scared that I would leave him forever and not come back.

I rolled over after two hours of debating in my head on whether or not just to skive getting on the train, to see that Rabastan was sound asleep, curled up to my side. I smoothed his hair out of his eyes in the same fashion I'd watched Mere do it back when he'd been a baby.

"I'm not leaving you." I whispered. "I promise."


	4. Sorting and So Much More

Yay. New chapter finally up. Well, it's not really new, but I did redo it. Read&&Review so that I wet myself with happiness. I like this chapter. Angst!YUM!

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The train lurched forward and I sat down, opposite of Lucius and beside Bellatrix, on purpose. We were on our way to Hogwarts. Sunshine was pouring in through the windows and nearly blinding me. I accommodated my usually pristine posture to shade myself in Bellatrix's shadow. I looked at her and Lucius. Each was looking in opposite directions. Lucius' attention was focused on the rack above Bellatrix's head and hers was focused a out the window. She was bathed in sunlight and it didn't seem to bother her one bit. I noticed that her attention was focused on her rather large family outside the window. Narcissa and Regulus were waving goodbye frantically. Sirius looked as if he'd lost his right arm, but was trying to mask it well. Andromeda was just staring at the window with a blank look on her face. 

"Bellatrix." She didn't look at me.

"Bellatrix." I repeated, reaching out and gently touching her on the shoulder. She turned around and looked at me. I saw something in her eyes then that I'd never seen before, but before I could place it, it was gone.

"What?"

Stumbling for words, I blinked several times and then took a deep breath. "They'll be fine. It'll be fine." I didn't have to use proper nouns to specify what I was saying. Something inside me knew that she understood. Slowly, she turned back around and looked out the window. She tried to hide it, but I could see her waving behind the window; hands nearly clawing to break the glass when she stopped.

I knew how she was feeling. I knew that she didn't want to leave her family behind. It wasn't that she was scared for herself. No, she was scared for them.

That morning I'd awoken to find Rabastan still sleeping beside me and Mere had come in making a fuss over the 'brotherly love' before ushering us both off to the bathroom to get ready. An hour later, my family was wishing me goodbye at the platform along with Bellatrix's and Lucius'. While my family had attacked me with hugs and kisses and Bellatrix's family did the same (though she was screaming and trying to push them off rather roughly), Lucius' family didn't do the same. Abraxas stood rigidly beside his son, not even paying him the slightest of attention. Latona had yet to hug him goodbye too, which was strange considering that she usually doted on her only son. Were all the Malfoys as rigid as Lucius was? Wouldn't they want to wish their only child goodbye on his first time to Hogwarts? It was Lucius' birthday as well. He was the oldest among us. Why weren't they saying anything?

I had shrugged the event, or lack thereof, off and had turned my attention instead to Rabastan.

"Promise you'll be back?" Rabastan asked, eyes growing twice their normal size as always whenever he was stressed or excited.

"I promise." I ruffled his hair before pulling him tightly to me and hugging him. "See you soon." I kissed him on the forehead and had turned around and walked backwards to the train, tapping my nose right before I'd finally turned around to board.

Now the three of us sat in the compartment in utter silence until Lucius, who had a seat to himself, stretched out and fell asleep.

"I thought he'd never go out." Bellatrix commented, watching his pale form sleep, before she stretched out her feet, putting them on the seat opposite, and in doing so came dangerously close to kicking Lucius in the head.

"What? You did something didn't you?" I knew that tone and knew that she'd been up to something.

"Nothing." She put on that innocent façade of hers and folded her arms across her chest.

Shrugging, I decided not to press her. If she didn't want to tell me, she didn't have to. Besides, what harm could letting Lucius sleep do? Unless…unless he was dead. I quickly leaned over and ran my hand along his neck, checking for a pulse. Eventually, I found one. He was alive. I sat back in my seat, sighing, and with slight apprehension, noticed that Bellatrix was smirking at me.

The hours passed by rather quickly and soon we were changing into our uniforms. I had pulled down my bag and had begun laying out my tie, black socks, and silver and green vest, assuming that Bellatrix would leave the compartment and go to the lavatory to get changed, but with Bellatrix assuming was wrong. And today, I was dead wrong. Looking to my left, I fought back the urge to scream.

Bellatrix didn't have her shirt on and was currently rummaging around for something in her bag, via only pants and…bra. "What're you doing?" I tried to sound compose and stop myself from staring. Apart from my mother I'd never seen a girl who wasn't properly dressed. It wasn't that I found Bellatrix attractive, it was that there was something I'd never seen before standing in front of me and curiosity was beginning to get my better.

"Changing." She answered, as if being half naked in front of me was nothing out of the norm.

"Oh….okay." I didn't know what else to say or do and walking from the compartment would look totally stupid, so I just stripped off my own shirt and began putting on the pressed white one I'd already lain out. I changed into the rest of my uniform, not daring to look to my left to see how indecent Bellatrix was or to see if she was watching me.

Lucius was still asleep when the train stopped. I got up stretching my arms and went to wake him. Bellatrix grabbed my hand.

"Leave him." She ordered.

"Bellatrix, we can't just leave him here."

"Yes we can." She slunk around me and pushed me out of the compartment, closing the door behind us.

"You can't leave him lying in there." I hissed, astonished.

"Why not?"

"You just….can't. It's wrong."

"And you're point would be?" Bellatrix talked as if she didn't seem to think that anything was wrong with leaving Lucius in there to wake up and find himself back in London a few hours from now. She began pushing me down the rest of the corridor and every time I tried to turn around to go back and wake Lucius up, she blocked the corridor so that I couldn't get by. This proved a difficult situation because whenever she stopped me from going back to the compartment, she stopped others from getting off the train as well and they began to get agitated. So, I eventually stopped trying to go and save Lucius. I didn't know why I wanted to wake him up in the first place. It wasn't as if we were friends, more like acquaintances who met up with one another far too much.

'Firs' years this way. Firs' years this way." We stepped out into the dark and a booming voice, followed by a man that was booming as well loomed before us. "Foller me."

We were ushered into tiny boats and were soon crossing a large placid lake. I looked out over the black mirror, amazed. The ride was silent, neither of us talking to the other. It was quite odd not to have Lucius there. Had he been, I knew that he and Bellatrix would already be locked in some grudge match, each dying to throttle the other.

Within fifteen minutes we reached a set of docks that met up with the underpinnings of what was a huge castle. After clambering out of the boat, we were shepherded like sheep up through a stairwell, into the castle, and off to a side room. Here we were left alone for what seemed an eternity. Those around me began to get nervous, chattering away about what was to be done with us.

Bellatrix leaned against the wall beside me, calm as ever. We were a bit cramped in the room, far closer to anyone else in here than we ever would be. The minutes seemed to stretch by into hours as the nervous whispers around me only grew into nervous ramblings.

"What are they going to do with us?"

"I don't know. But my brother said it was painful."

"Maybe we'll have to do magic-"

"Don't be silly. We're only first years."

"My brother said it was going to be painful."

"Maybe we have to fight a troll-"

"Or a dragon."

"Very, very painful."

I barely managed to stifle a yawn before the door to the chamber opened up. A woman had appeared in the doorway. She was a bit on in her years and wore square glasses….and green robes. I swallowed, realizing that she was the woman with the tea that Bellatrix, Lucius, and I had put the toad in.

She wasn't alone though. Behind her was a mass full of blonde hair which was accompanied by a sour face.

I looked sideways at Bellatrix as an image of Lucius waking up all alone in a compartment wormed its way into my mind. Lucius walked into the room and took up his place directly in front of Bellatrix.

"Very clever, Black. Very clever. I'd watch my back if I were you though. I'm not one to let someone get by without revenge." He flashed a dangerous smile.

"Well, you're not me." Her sick smile rivaled his. "And I'll be waiting."

Lucius hadn't been expecting this and his face fell for just a moment. I had to hand it to Bellatrix. She knew just what to say to quirk him.

"Alright we're ready for you." The teacher, whose name I later found out was McGonagall, led us back into a large entrance hall and then stopped in front of a set of huge oaken double doors.

"Before you can sit down and eat, you must be sorted." I heard the boy who had been speaking of pain earlier whimper. "There are four houses to be sorted into. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. While you are at Hogwarts, your house will be like your family as you will sleep in the house dorms and spend free time in the house common rooms. Any good deeds will earn you points, while any rule breaking will loose you points." Here she stopped and glanced around the whole group as if trying to pick the good out from the bad. "The house that has the greatest amount of points at the end of the year will win the House Cup. Follow me."

She turned to the large doors which opened up. The chatter that had been going on while she talked to us was quickly silenced as McGonagall led us through the hall. The room was very bright, considering that it was lit by hundreds of candles suspended in mid air. I heard whispering break out behind me. I shot Bellatrix a side ways glance.

"Look at the ceiling." She said. As I looked upward, I saw what all the fuss was about. In the place where a ceiling should be, the roof seemed to be missing. It looked just like the night sky that we had seen outside.

"Wow." I muttered.

Bellatrix only shook her head at me.

McGonagall led us to a long table at the front of a hall where the rest of the teachers appeared to be sitting. Then, she disappeared through a door to the side and came back moments later with a stool, an old tatty hat, and a long rolled up piece of parchment.

And suddenly, the object burst into song.

_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your tops hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.  
There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.  
You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell brave of heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;  
You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet wise old Ravenclaw,  
If you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folk use any means  
To achieve their ends.  
So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And you won't get in a flap!  
You're safe in my hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!_

As the hat finished its song, everyone burst into applause.

Someone behind me muttered, "My sister said it sings the same song nearly every year and that it only changes its tune in order to give advice or warnings, or whenever it feels like it."

Professor McGonagall's voice followed the applause. "When I call your name, you will come forward, sit on the stool, and place the hat on your head." A murmur broke out amongst the first years before it was shattered by McGonagall's voice.

"Black, Bellatrix."

Bellatrix would be the first from our group to be sorted. I looked at Lucius for a minute before turning my attention to Bellatrix—he had looked as if he'd like nothing better than to go before her. She stepped forward, not an ounce of fear about here and sat down on the stool. No sooner had her butt touched the wood, and the hat her head, when it the tatty object let loose of scream of "SLYTHERIN!"

A table at the far end of the Hall erupted into applause as she got up from the stool, smirking and with her hair slightly ruffled at the top.

"They can't expect _me_ to put_ that_ on _my head_." Lucius exclaimed, running a hand through his hair.

"Well, by all means, go run screaming out the doors. I'm sure your parents will be thrilled to know their only child is a chicken." I mused and right after I did so, his demeanor changed completely. Malfoy puffed out his chest and didn't speak to me for the duration of the sorting.

The minutes quickly passed and soon McGonagall called my own name. I approached the stool and that was when the thought first hit me: What if Bellatrix and I weren't in the same house? What if I were put into Hufflepuff or Gryffindor? I knew no one else here other than Lucius. What if I were separated from both of them?

I sat slowly down on the stool, not that eager to find out where I belonged. I placed the hat on my head; it slid down past my eyes and I couldn't see a thing.

"Hmmm. Interesting. Very interesting." A voice chimed in my ear and I had to have jumped ten feet in the air. "No need to be shocked, Rodolphus. I'm only a hat…that can read your thoughts."

Oh dear. I wanted this thing off my head. Now.

"No need to be alarmed though. On with business. The first of the Lestranges, I see. A sharp mind. Quite reserved. You'd make an excellent Ravenclaw. Brave, I see and you have the makings of a master duelist. Hmm….what's this? You believe in love? Maybe Hufflepuff?"

I panicked. I didn't want to be in Hufflepuff. I wanted to be with Bellatrix.

"Can't bear to be separated from Miss Black, eh?" I didn't like the way the Hat said that. There was a hint of foreboding in the omniscient voice. "You don't wish to prove yourself to anyone. Think you know best. You sit back, watch. Calculate. Already, you've begun to manipulate others to your will. You're a master with words. And what a quick temper. A bit of a sneak as well and highly sadistic."

I had no idea what the Hat was on about. I hadn't noticed that I'd done any of these things, but they sounded comforting all the same.

"You're a SLYTHERIN! Through and through." Slytherin was screamed to the hall while the rest sentence was spoken to me. I took the hat off of my head rather shakily and sat it back on the stool. Rising, I quickly walked the distance from the stool to the Slytherin table where Bellatrix sat.

"You were up there forever." She said, not bothering to whisper.

"Sorry that I couldn't be as quick as you were."

She smirked at me and didn't bother saying anything. I couldn't tell whether she kept her mouth shut because she had no comeback, or because she just didn't feel like talking. Whatever the reason was, neither of us talked until Lucius joined us at our table. He sat down opposite of Bellatrix, not bothering to speak either.

Among the students we received were Augustus Rookwood and Walden MacNair. They each sat down to Lucius' left and judging by the way he looked them both over, they lot of them had previously met. I quickly found out that Slytherin was different from the other houses. We clapped when we received a new member, but we didn't hoot and holler like the rest of the houses, nor did we receive new members with opening arms. They simply sat down, absent from pats on the backs and handshakes.

At the end of the Sorting an aging man with long, white hair and a beard to match got up. "Speeches are very important. And, with that being said….dig in." Food appeared on the once bare golden plates in front of me and there was a loud rumble as everyone began to talk. The three of us ate in silence. My thoughts wandered to what the Hat had told me. Could I stand to be separated from Bellatrix? Did I really have a gift with words? I hoped to become the master duelist it had said I would be. I spotted Lucius mumbling something to Walden and Augustus every now and then. Bellatrix, on the whole, hadn't said a word the entire time. It was quite strange. Why was she being so quiet?

My thoughts were interrupted when the old man, apparently the Headmaster, got to his feet and cleared his throat. The Hall fell silent at once. "Now that we have all eaten and drank our fill, I have a few start of term notices. Welcome back. Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts.'  
He opened his arms widely in a rather loving manner which I'd never seen expressed by an adult before in public to children he barely knew. "First years, you will find that your things have already been taken to your dormitories and lain out for you. Prefects, that tricky middle faucet in your bathroom has been repaired. As usual, the Forbidden Forest is off-limits to any student, no matter what year."

I looked up at Bellatrix and Lucius. Both of them had a gleam of mischief in their eyes.

If someone told them something was off-limits, they were bound to want to 'bend the rules' and 'poke about.'

"What do you say about sneaking out?"

We were now standing to leave the Great Hall. The headmaster's speech was over and we were all being shown to our dorms. There was a great deal of talk going on and coupled with the scraping of benches against the stone floor, everything had gotten very loud all of a sudden. The rushed excitement was serving it's purpose—getting both Bellatrix and Lucius riled up.

Bellatrix got up off the bench, eyes locking with Lucius'. She smirked at him. "I'm game if you are." She began walking out of the hall and I ran to catch up with her, leaving Lucius behind.

My hand wrapped around her arm and I pulled her backwards, stopping her jaunty stride. "Bella. You can't. You'll get yourself thrown out before the year's even started. He's an ass. Don't let Malfoy get under your skin. You can beat him, and you know it. So, why prove yourself?"

She looked at me and then over my shoulder at what I guessed to be Lucius. I watched her with baited breath. I didn't want her to do anything stupid to get herself thrown out, and at Lucius' hands.

"Fine. I won't." And she walked out of the hall with me still attached to her forearm.

We were led into the Entrance Hall and through a passage across the hall. The passage was dark with a rough floor and equally rough walls. Lucius caught up with us after several minutes and I could see the scowl set in his face by the light of the torches that hung from the wall. I had won; again, and he didn't quite like it. Bellatrix had listened to me instead of competing with him. Maybe the Hat was right after all. Maybe I did have a knack for words.

The passage twisted and turned, going lower and lower and becoming darker by the minute. Finally we reached a straight stretch with alcoves to the right and a blank wall of torches to the left. Ahead was a solid stone wall. There was no sign of anymore passageways leading off of this one.

I thought we'd been led into a dead in, but the prefect ahead of us turned around, and waited for silence.

"This." Said the prefect. "Is the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room. What you see before you is no ordinary stone wall. After entering the common room, you may find your dorms: girls to the left staircase. Boys to the right. But no need to worry. I'm sure you'll all be quite…comfortable with either dormitory in no time." He smirked at us from under his long black hair before turning around to the wall.

"Serpent."

No sooner had the word left his lips when the passageway shook and the stone wall slid aside and opened to a large, high ceiling room with a low fire and several green chairs, couches, and a green carpet lain over the rough stone floor in an attempt to make the room seem more comfortable than it was.

Our little group made its way into the room, staring around at the slightly uncomfortable atmosphere. Everything in here was so rigid from the students sitting in the chairs to the very furniture itself.

We were only given a few minutes to look around before being ushered up to our dorms by the rest of the prefects. Lucius and I left Bellatrix to go up her own staircase and we headed to the one on the right.

The stone on the stairs was somewhat smoother than the stone that had been on the floor. We walked up the winding staircase, passing several dark wooden doors which were all positioned to the left. Each door had words burned into it, reading the year of the students who stayed inside. At the very top of the staircase was the door that we were meant to enter.

"First Years" had been burned in the wood.

Lucius pushed the door open and we entered, viewing what would be our dorm for the next seven years of our lives. It was a round room, positioned obviously in what was the center of the staircase. There were four beds, all with the headboards up against the stone wall and clothed in green sheets and curtains. The dormitory was quite large with dressers and wardrobes here and there, and a door straight ahead that I guessed lead into a bathroom. Our trunks already stood at the ends of our beds.

A black, scrawny cat sat on Lucius' bed, purring contently and digging his claws into the bed sheets. He'd brought the little menace from home, obviously. I hated that cat. I'd even kicked it a few times when I had been over at his manor. It was always lurking around, always watching.

An owl cage stood open at the foot of my bed. I hadn't brought the family owl to school and had neglected to buy one when I'd gone to Diagon Alley because I didn't want to have to take care of it. So what was this doing here?

I walked over and looked at the cage. Noticing a letter on top of it, I plucked it off, opened it and began reading.

_Rodolphus,_

_It seems that your father and I have sent you to school without an owl .So, this afternoon, after leaving you at the station, I went out and bought you one. Rabastan insisted on naming him Toby. Have a good term. See you on Christmas._

_-Love, Mere._

Ah great. An owl. Something to take care of, something for Lucius' cat to try and eat. And I didn't even know what the thing looked like! And it had the dumbest name I'd ever heard of. Toby! Who in hell named an owl Toby? It was probably some midget, gay owl…that was cross eyed. Dear Merlin.

Dear Merlin! Someone had hold of my collar and had wheeled me around. I came face to face with a mass of blonde hair and a rather angry pointed face.

"What do you want?" I growled, throwing his hand off of me.

"Why did you do that?"

"Usually, when someone has a hold on another, the one being held doesn't quite like it if he's being held by force." I replied sarcastically. I did not understand why he had grabbed me or what he was talking about.

"Stop her from sneaking out." His face was set and he looked slightly let down.

"I don't--wait. Are you talking about Bellatrix?" It had only just dawned on me. "I stopped her from sneaking out because she doesn't need to get suspended and she's better than that."

"Better than what?"

He was so stupid. Why did he care why I had stopped her? "Better than you." I growled.

Without warning, Lucius launched himself at me. Grabbing me around the next, he slammed me into the floor. "Better than me. Rodolphus. She's a silly little girl. How can she--" But he didn't finish his sentence. I was raging mad. I pulled my hand back and connected my fist with his jaw.

"Don't you _ever_ say that you're better than her, Malfoy!" I squared up and hit him in the jaw again. When I drew my fist back I saw that my knuckles were covered in blood and so was the bottom half of Lucius' face. "You're not worth her time. You'll never be as good as she is and you're stupid to even try."

He came back, hitting me just as hard as I'd hit him.

The next few minutes were a blur of punching arms, kicking legs, and the two of us rolling around on the floor and screaming at each other. Every blow was returned, forcing each minute to get rougher.

How dare he even think he was on the same playing field as Bellatrix! She was so much better than he was.

I rolled him over onto his back, hitting him in the jaw again just as the door to the dorm opened.

Lucius had been ready to hit me, but his fist remained poised in mid-air. I turned around to see Rookwood and MacNair standing in the doorway.

They both paused, unsure of how to address the situation at hand.

"Ah we're just going to go to bed." Said MacNair. They both walked over to their beds, on the left side of the room and a minute later they'd both disappeared behind the green hangings.

I got off of Lucius and headed over to my own bed, scowling. I could hear him getting up behind me, and I was ready to pounce on him if he rushed at me again. But he didn't. I could hear him crawling into his bed.

"This isn't over yet." He muttered.

I didn't respond. I thought the matter had been solved and while I would have rather gone on being friends, if one could use a term so loosely, with Lucius, if he wanted a war then he would get one.

I changed into my pajamas and crawled into bed, still seething about what had just happened. MacNair and Rookwood were talking now in not so hushed whispers.

Right before I fell asleep I heard Augustus voicing, "What did that prefect mean about, _I'm sure you'll all be quite…comfortable with either dormitory in no time._"


	5. Power Comes in Many Forms

**Woo. I'm cranking out chapters by the arseload. Go me. Read&&Review. This is one of my favorite chapters. Zong. They're so effing cute.**

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We soon found out just what that prefect had meant our first night. It was our third week at school. Things between Lucius and myself had toned down a bit, each pushing the fight aside, but not forgetting it in the least. The bruises on each of our faces had not, though, gone unquestioned by Bellatrix the following morning. She had asked us each several times what had happened, and though both of us refused to talk, she was still set on learning what had happened. Every now and then, she'd pop the question into a conversation, asking what exactly had happened. Now, three weeks after our little fiasco, the two of us had healed considerably, but still weren't answering her questions. It was during one of these conversations, in which she posed her undying question countless times that the three of us found out about one of the first of Slytherin's core values.

"Get off it."

"Oh. Come _on_ Rodolphus. What happened?"

"No literally, get off it. You're sitting on my paper."

With a groan of impatience, Bellatrix moved sideways somewhat so that I could retrieve my paper. I had been laden with homework since the first day I got here. I had piles stacked on top of me and the minute I finished it, the teachers were ushering out another. The constant feeling of drowning, finally getting air and then being pushed down again was beginning to take a toll on me. Unlike myself, Bellatrix and Lucius seemed just fine with this load of coursework we were being given. We did our homework together nearly every night and they were always the first to finish; I had my suspicions that they were secretly competing to see who could get their work done the fastest.

"Lucius." Bellatrix huffed, turning sideways on the couch she was sharing with me. "Tell me." She stuck out her bottom lip and sniffed a bit.

"Bellatrix, if that doesn't work with Rodolphus, you should know it won't work with me." He said smartly as he shut his book. I could hear her growling at him under her breath, but I did not know whether it was because he refused to tell her what had happened or whether he had finished before her. Pushing her own essay onto the table that sat in the midst of the three of us, she tried her luck with me again.

"Oh fine. It's not like both of you coming down to breakfast one morning, completely bruised and bloodied is an unnatural occurrence anyway." She said sarcastically.

Looking up from my essay I saw her slump down on the couch and fold her arms across her chest. Lucius and I exchanged glances. She was not to know what had happened that first night. It would only make the both of us look like complete fools. Each of us understood that and intended to keep that night between the two of us.

"For the love of Merlin and everyone else in the room, get a _room!_"

I started and turned my attention back to Bellatrix. She was sitting on her knees, peering over the back of the couch. This girl was impossible! I could not leave her be for a second before she was doing something outlandish. Following her gaze, my eyes landed on a pair of older students, sixth years by the looks of it, who were wrapped so tightly around each other that it was impossible to tell where one of them ended and the other began. And Bellatrix was yelling at them. I had to agree with her though. No one wanted to see the little show they were putting on. Apparently this sort of thing was common, at least among Slytherins, because this was the fifth or sixth grotesquely attached couple we had seen since day one.

The pair looked over at us, shrugged, and continued with their practice.

"Maybe you didn't hear me." Bellatrix said. I looked over at her and noticed that she had her wand out, pointing for the duo.

"Bella, you can't do anything." I hissed.

"I'm well aware, but they don't know that." She whispered out of the corner of her mouth. I had never seen her like this before. Her whole demeanor had changed in the blink of an eye. Her face was drawn tight and her eyes were heavily boring into the sixth year couple. She looked maddened and nearly possessed.

I watched at the two turned and sized her and her wand up. She was going to get herself killed. I just knew it. She'd get herself killed and I would be left with a dead body on my hands and a lost friend.

Swallowing, I looked Bellatrix over. She still looked determined as ever and for several minutes her and her victims had a rather strange staring contest. Whether intimidated by her wand being out and being fooled into thinking she could do something from their own overwhelming stupidity or whether they were simply tired of her butting in, the pair rose and left the room. As she walked past the girl muttered, "Seems like they'd be used to this sort of thing by now. Happens all the bloody time."

Once they had ascended up the stairs to one of the dormitories, Bellatrix turned around and sat herself back down on the couch. Laying her wand across her lap, she looked around. It was obvious that she was quite proud with herself. I, on the other hand, was just glad she was alive. Sliding down so that my bum hit the floor and my neck was now on the seat of the couch I had been preoccupying, I ran a hand through my hair. "If you ever do that again, I swear I'll kill you myself." I muttered.

I heard her give an arbitrary laugh and shuffle around on the couch.

"What's the point in doing something that outlandish in public?" I asked.

It was Lucius who spoke up. "Because it shows you have power over those around you. Proves you're ashamed of nothing, but the…interesting pair we just watched made a mistake."

"Hmm?" I asked, letting my hand fall to my lap.

"They left the room." Bellatrix finished.

I jumped up and looked at the both of them. "Are you two agreeing and since when are you on the same wave?" Lucius and Bellatrix seemed to be as equally shocked as I was. They never agreed on anything. If one wanted wheat bread, the other wanted rye. It was that simple—they weren't meant to agree, but yet, they had just proved a point together. Blinking several times in succession, I sat back down on the couch. "I think the world is coming to an end." I dramatized while placing the back of my hand to my forehead. "Oh no. I feel faint."

Looking around, I noticed that Bellatrix was watching me without blinking. Suddenly, I felt uncomfortable. "By leaving the room, they bowed to the wishes of someone younger than them." She stated calmly. "They let me have control of the situation and handed me the victory. Snogging in public is disgusting, by it serves its purposes, if you don't back down."

"Wait…wait….WAIT!" I said. "Do you mean to tell me that you're okay with what they were doing when five seconds ago you were going stark mad to get them out?"

She shrugged. "I've changed my mind."

"Why?"

"Because I'm bloody well allowed to. After all, doing what they did shows that you're better in a way and that you have control, power, but if you back down, then you lose it all and look like a buffoon."

She was speaking in circles to me. While I understood her, I didn't understand how she could suddenly switch from the conservative bitch that was threatening to hex the snoggers to the power hungry liberal who was in full support of what they had been doing.

"Would you ever do that?" I asked.

"If I needed to. It depends on the situation."

"Alright." Lucius sat forward in his chair. "Situation: now. Do it."

"Do what?" It was me that spoke instead of Bellatrix. He wasn't about to make her do something just to prove herself.

"Kiss someone." He stated mater of factly.

"Why should she?"

"She said she'd do it, did she not?" He stated more than asked. "So why not do it now?"

"She doesn't bloody well have to just because you demand it." I hated how he always got her to rise to something without lifting a finger. This time she wasn't going to do anything stupid. I was going to stop her.

"Well, if you're so intent on protecting your precious Bellatrix, then why don't you?"

I looked at him and in that moment, I loathed him again. I wanted to fly loose and hit him another time. Just once more. But Bellatrix was there and I would not do that in front of her. "Do what?" I asked, just to frustrate him.

"Kiss someone." Lucius was gritting his teeth as he said it this time.

"Anyone?" I asked.

"Anyone." He repeated.

"Okay then." With a light shrug, I got from my seat, crossed the room, bent down over Lucius, and pecked him on the cheek before he could protest. Standing back, and making sure I was out of arm's reach, I watched for his reaction. Slowly, his face turned a shade of red that I didn't think his pale complexion had the capacity to hold. Then he reached up and wiped his cheek where my lips had touched.

"You _did_ say anyone." I stated, returning back to my seat and rather happy with myself.

"You know perfectly well what I meant." He hissed, now rubbing his cheek so hard that he looked to be trying to light a fire.

"But, I still didn't feel elated with power." Smirking, I folded my hands behind my head and leaned back.

"That's because you didn't do it right." Bellatrix said.

"Oh?" I turned my head so that I could see her and arched my eyebrows.

"You didn't do it right. They were….well…." I watched her stumble for words and watched as she turned a shade of red quite similar to the colour Malfoy currently was. "They were….oh…._this_." Without warning, Bellatrix did her third outlandish thing of the hour. Closing the distance between us rather quickly, she had leaned into me and surprisingly, gently pecked me on the lips.

My eyes widened in shock and my eyebrows must have disappeared well beneath my hair line. She pulled back and silence stretched out between the three of us.

Coughing nervously, I made to sit up again, managing to drop the book which had been in my lap in the process. "Right right right….still not feeling that elated power." My voice was jerky. I hoped the others couldn't hear that.

"Me either." Bellatrix said and I don't know whether it was my imagination or something else, but she seemed to get back to work rather quickly on her essay, reading it—but her eyes weren't moving at all.

"Anyone know how to perform a blocking charm?" I asked the room at large just to clear the silence. I opened the book I had and began turning the pages rather roughly.

"Hmph." Lucius said and then began muttering in and undertone and I couldn't make out a word he said, but I swore I heard him growl.


	6. What Party?

**nothing to really say. just another chapter. a short one, because i thought going into christmas would take too long. little cutesie stuff, plus stupid siblings. SQUEE! read----- review. or die. x.x**

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For me, Christmas break could not come fast enough. I wanted to go home. I wanted to be away from this wretched castle and back with my family. When the list came around to be signed as of who would stay at the school, I didn't sign it. I tried to forge Lucius' name, but Bellatrix stopped me.

"What?"

"Don't do that."

And we had left the little argument at that.

Things hadn't been all too awkward since the kissing incident. None of us brought it up, therefore it didn't exist in our minds. Every now and then though, I would remember it and be almost ashamed at what had happened, though I wasn't quite sure why and I did not care to delve farther into my feelings to figure it out.

The ride home from school was a quiet one, for a change with the three of us. We had quickly become the loudest in our year, though Bella and Lucius vastly out-vocalized me most of the time. Within thirty minutes of being on the train, each of us had nodded off, one right after the other. Lucius had been the first to go, at which time I had started and looked over at Bellatrix.

"Did you do something?" I had inquired.

"No." She answered.

Somehow, I knew she was telling the truth, and didn't worry about it anymore. Stretching out, I leaned my back against the wall and soon dozed off.

Several hours later, I woke up and had to suppress a scream at what I saw. Bellatrix had somehow managed to crawl over me and was curled up in my lap, head on my chest, and right arm hanging lazily over me as well as the edge of the seat. I needed to get up. My neck was killing me, since I had slid down in the seat and come to rest in an awkward position. Both of my legs were asleep as well, but I didn't move. I didn't want to disturb her, mainly because I thought that she might kill me if I did. I slid down farther in the seat so that my head could lay actually on the seat and not half way on the seat and half way on the wall. My movements were slow and careful and I was scared to death that I would turn the wrong way and somehow throw her into the floor. Nudging around a bit, I made myself as comfortable as I could and tried to doze off again, but to no avail. Every time I breathed, Bellatrix's hair kept trying its hardest to go up my nostrils. And that wasn't fun. Not only did it tickle, but I felt like I was choking.

I tried pushing her hair back down, suppressing it. It worked somewhat, but I had to keep my hand on the top of her head to keep my nose from sucking it up. I was quite sure she didn't want snot in her hair. It was then that she decided to wiggle around a bit in her sleep and resituate herself. First, her knee went somewhere that I didn't particularly find comfortable and second, her hand ended up slapping me in the face and then covering it slightly, splayed across the bottom half of my jaw. I removed her hand and placed it down by her side, having to push her hair out of the way again. Eyes watering, I tried again to fix myself to remove her knee from its current place and eventually did, though how, I'll never know.

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The sound of a whistle woke me from my sleep and I sat up to see Bellatrix already grabbing her bag and tugging on Lucius' hair to wake him up.

He awoke with a start and began screaming something about shampoo and root perms. Staring at him quizzically, I smoothed out the wrinkles in my shirt and stood to collect my own things.

"RODOLPHUS! RODOLPHUS!"

The minute I stepped off the train, a wrapped up bundle of clothes came running at me.

"RABASTAN!" I screamed, voice nearly rivaling his. He ran at me and grabbed me around the shoulders and squeezed me so hard I thought I'd pop. "You're home. You're home." He squealed.

"Yeah, I am." I hugged him back, glad to see him again.

We broke apart and I ruffled his hair. The locks had gotten longer, nearly rivaling mine in length. "What has, or rather, hasn't happened to your head?" I asked, running my hands through his hair.

"Oh." He said, eyes growing in size as always. "Sirius and me are doing it. Growing out our hair until one of the adults says something. Well, they're saying stuff now, just is that they're not having it cut for us or anything. We've kept track of the comments and everything on a sheet of paper. You won't believe what the adults say!" He paused and looked around, suddenly seeming to remember something. "You might want to tell Bellatrix to watch out, by the way."

"Why?"

"Well you see, Sirius is—"

"IF YOU EVER LEAVE ME AGAIN I SWEAR TO MERLIN I'LL MURDER YOU!"

I turned around, recognizing the voice instantaneously. Searching the crowd, I found the source of the commotion not far from us. A few feet away were Sirius and Bellatrix. The former seemed to have tackled the latter, causing her to fall backwards onto the floor. His arms were wrapped around her neck, pulling his head close to her chest. "I've been so bloody lonely." He dramatized and then suddenly pushed her away to arms length. "Never leave me again."

I smiled. Same old Sirius, up to his old tricks, with considerably longer hair.

"Sirius Orion Black!" I heard a voice I had only heard maybe twice in my short life. Looking around again, I noticed the rest of the Blacks. Regulus was only standing a few feet away from Sirius, waving shyly to his older cousin. Narcissa and Andromeda were gathered around their mother; the children had their noses turned up to the display and Druella's face was unreadable. Mr. Black (grinning from ear to ear like a buffoon) was not far off, standing next to his brother-in-law, and next to his brother-in-law was his sister, Walburga Black—mother of Sirius and Regulus. She was a shrill, strict woman whom I highly disliked; a lot. She came marching forward and grabbed Sirius up by the collar and marched him from the station. He looked utterly shocked, but was smirking all the same.

I walked over and extended my hand to Bellatrix who was still on the floor.

"Some family you have." I commented, looking over my shoulder at the large group of them.

"Yeah." She pushed my hand away and got up herself.

It was at that moment that Mere came up behind me, putting her arms on my shoulders. Pere soon came up beside us and I noticed he seemed taller than usual. Looking up, I noticed his sudden burst in height—Rabastan was perched on his shoulders, hands wrapped around his head to keep his balance while Pere held onto his legs.

"Same to you." Bellatrix said, her eyes following the path mine had made.

"You should come over during the break." Mere cut in, her social butterfly side taking control. "Bring Sirius if you want." She added.

Bellatrix nodded, smiled at my parents and brother and walked off. Regulus came running up beside her and grabbed her hand, which surprisingly enough, she held.

I looked around as the Blacks left the station and noticed the Malfoys on the other side of where the Blacks had been. The three blondes came walking over toward us, Lucius lagging behind his parents slightly, closer to his mother than father.

"See you at work." Mr. Malfoy said, giving a nod to Pere and eying my brother rather oddly before walking from the station.

Mrs. Malfoy turned to us and gave a smile that seemed to want to excuse her husband's behavior. "You'll be coming to our Christmas party, I hope?"

"Oh yes." Mother said. "We wouldn't miss it for anything."


	7. Christmas

**long chapter. christmas in all its boring glory with the slytherins. after a few reviews from the last chapter, i figured that i should show the more immature side of the characters, since it's been back dropped for a while. while they are pureblood slytherins and thus will sometimes act older than they are, they will always revert back to being childish when adults aren't around. they're very two-face.**

**this chapter introduces even more of the blacks and goes into some describing of all four families involved in this saga, so to speak. the next few chapters will come faster and cover more time in each one. these first few chapters were just put out to lay the foundation for the rest of the fic on. read&&review!!!**

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The Malfoy party was held on Christmas Eve. According to Mere, it was something the Malfoys had always done, a sort of family tradition, but lately they had slacked off a bit on holding them—for five years. The afternoon of the party, I found myself at the Black Manor, shoved in a bathtub and being scrubbed thoroughly by my mother in places she need not touch. Druella, Mere, and Walburga (who, by the way, had dumped her sons off on her brother and not so much as thanked him) had decided it would be easier, so to speak, for all seven of us to get ready together. The location had been deemed the Black Manor, simply because it had the most bathrooms and had more space, no doubt to keep us all separated. Mere was with the four of us, having dumped me into a tub while Rabastan stood wrapped in a robe not too far away, having already been cleaned up. Walburga was perched on the counter top of the bathroom, wine glass in hand, and was apparently drinking already. Sirius was in the shower on the other side of the bathroom, and judging by the large amounts of splashing, Regulus was in said shower with his brother. As the splashing grew louder, Walburga did nothing but take another sip of wine. She was a staunchly thin woman, angular in every way possible, with ten years at least on Druella and Mere. She scared me slightly, I would have to admit.

"Mere…Mere….MOTHER!" She had been humming and had taken up to scrubbing my back. "I'm fine. I think I'm clean." She stopped and looked at me, then shrugged.

"If you insist."

"I'm pruning." I held up my hands.

"Right, out of the tub you go then." She brought up a towel and held it out for me. I grabbed it and wrapped it around my waist. I stepped from the tub and she unplugged the drain then went around to cleaning up the water that was all over the floor with her wand.

The four of us brushed our teeth and left the bathroom, all wrapped in robes and towels and headed down to the guest room where the boys always stayed when they were here. We got rounded a corner to the hall and Mere announced that her and Walburga were going off to 'check on the girls.' As soon as they disappeared from sight, Regulus squealed. "Watch this…"

"You might want to cover your eyes." Sirius warned, but we all knew what was coming anyway. Regulus let out a small giggle, stripped off his towel and ran arse naked the rest of the way to the guest room, giggling like mad all the while.

Rabastan took off running after him, too shy to rip off his own towel.

I turned to Sirius. "We're not going to let them have all the fun, are we?"

"Hell no." He said, placing his hands on his hips.

With that, we both took off running after our younger brothers. Wrenching the door open, we made sure to shut it behind us. Regulus was done with his shenanigans; it seemed and was currently staring at what he was supposed to be wearing tonight. Rabastan, on the other hand had just entered the room.

Sirius and I exchanged glances, then nodded, seeming to read each others minds, or so we hoped. "RABASTAN!" I yelled. He turned around, and that was when Sirius went into action. Sneaking up behind him with stealth that only compared to a wolf, he ripped off his towel, wrapped it up and let it go, smacking him clearly in the bum with it.

Regulus' head jerked in the direction of the noise and Rabastan's scream. I watched as he grabbed his own towel, arming himself.

Rabastan grabbed Sirius' towel from him and began snapping it in defense as the Black weaved around and caught him lick after lick. Grinning, I took off my own towel and came up behind Sirius. Before he could even register the smirk on my brother's face, I'd smacked him clear across the ass with my towel. He yelped and jumped before turning on me with the recently captured towel of my brother's in his hand. He snapped his at my front, and I backed up just in time to keep it from coming in contact with my stomach.

Regulus had now joined the fray and was snapping his own towel at Rabastan, who had been trying to get Sirius while the latter had his back turned.

The next few minutes went by rather quickly. Each of us ran around the room, upsetting the furniture and snapping towels. We were acting like complete fools, but that was okay. The adults weren't around. Only in front of them did we have to behave and usually we were in front of them, locked and keyed, expected to behave like gentlemen, when we were really ruffians at heart.

I snapped Regulus in the arse with my towel just as the door to the room open. We all fell silent. All laughter ceased. I remained poised with towel in my hand. Rabastan got his around his waist rather quickly. Sirius dropped his to the floor. And, somehow, Regulus' had ended up wrapped around his head. We watched the baited breath as the door opened and as a pointed blue shoe stepped through the gap.

"Andromeda." Sirius breathed and collapsed on the floor. It was indeed the brunette, dressed and ready to go, unlike us.

She stepped through the door, nose held in the air. "Mother said for you to all hurry—WHAT IN THE….AHH!" She took each of us in. All naked, save Rabastan, all grinning stupidly, and ran from the room, scratching at her eyes.

The four of us busted into laughter. I walked over, and shut the door, letting the lock click behind me. "Let's get dressed. We can't go to this….thing…naked."

"Oh but we can." Said Regulus.

And we all laughed again.

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We arrived at the party, four very happy, well dressed gentlemen, but very uncomfortable. Cummerbunds, ties, and waistcoats were not things we were used to. Bellatrix seemed to be sharing our pain. Decked out in a red dress which looked to be constricting her every movement and high heels, which I had never seen her in, she was graceful, but still uncomfortable looking. Andromeda and Narcissa on the other hand seemed to be holding up like the mothers. Perfect little clones, exactly what a lady should be, turning their nose up whenever they heard their sister swear about her clothing.

The rather large party, now containing all fathers, siblings, and mothers of the Blacks and Lestranges approached the door. It was Cygnus who wrapped on the knocker.

Standing between Rabastan and Bellatrix, I looked around at the grounds. The Malfoys had surely gone all out for this thing. There were lights everywhere, lighted paths, lamps, and sparkly Christmas ones. The snow was magically refilling itself each time someone stepped in it, erasing all tracks faster than the blink of an eye. Inside I could hear laughter, orchestra music, and talking.

"It's nothing special. Rather boring actually."

"What?" I looked around to see Bellatrix looking at me.

"The party, the grounds, the Malfoys—whatever you're ogling at. It's nothing special." She explained rather coldly.

"Seriously?" I asked, a smile teasing the corners of my mouth.

"Seriously."

Shortly after the word had left her mouth, the door opened. Peering down, I saw a small house elf, who bade us entrance. Once inside the cavernous foyer, I took off my cloak and handed it to one of the many elves running franticly around the manor. If the outside was extravagant, then the inside was over the top. Lights were strung along everything. Everything was lit up. Everything was just…wow. There were no words to describe it. The detailed paintings I had once seen on the wall had been taken down and replaced with carved ice statues of all sorts, some of which were spouting water from the mouths.

Through the foyer our party moved. We were guided from this room and into the one beyond by a house self. Sirius's father pushed aside the two double doors to reveal a large ball room, with an even higher ceiling than the foyer before it. The room was bathed in yellow light and in the very centre of the floor was a tree threes times as big as the largest one at Hogwarts. Baubles of all shades and variety melted into the leaves. Lights of every color imaginable were strung from the bows. It was extravagant, over the top, and oh so Malfoy.

The house elf left our company and the Malfoys came rushing over to our party. Abraxas was first. "Cygnus, Orion, Chevalier." He greeted each father, nodding his head with hands behind his back. Latona was not far behind her husband. She came rushing forward, dressed just as all three mothers were in flashy gowns of various Christmas shades and themes. They had dressed us all the same way. Each boy was sporting some variation of a red or green tie and cummerbund. Bellatrix had donned the red dress, Andromeda the green, and Narcissa the gold. They were a perfect three-set Christmas tree, despite the fact that Andie's shoes were blue.

Soon the parents disappeared, leaving the seven of us alone at the entrance to the ballroom. They seemed to have forgotten that they had children at all. With the oldest of us being twelve, it was expected that none of us knew how to act at such a gathering. Just as we were all beginning to shuffle around rather nervously, Lucius approached. He came up to Bellatrix. "Upstairs sitting room?" He asked.

"Yeah." She nodded and he turned and left the room with her walking beside him. I noticed that the other Blacks followed the pair and with a look at Rabastan, the two of us did as well. Malfoy led us down a hallway and up a set of stairs. As these stairs ended he veered right and went down another long hallway and then another before taking a left and opening a door.

I found myself in a sitting room with lush chairs and couches and a fire that sprang to life the minute the door opened. Lucius took a seat in a chair, Bellatrix on a couch, Sirius naturally sat in the high backed chair beside her. Regulus took up the floor. Andromeda and Narcissa grabbed a love seat, and Rabastan an armchair. I, being the last one in the room, closed the door and sat down beside Bellatrix. The room was dark save for the fireplace, but not one of us seemed to have the energy or the gumption to turn the lights on.

"It's like this every year." Andromeda explained to my brother and me. "We just go off to a room."

"While they get hammered and screwed out of their minds." Bellatrix continued.

"BELLA!" Narcissa squealed with her hand placed over her o-shaped mouth in shock.

"It's true." Bellatrix stated, rolling her eyes as if she'd just said the most obvious thing in the entire world.

"But I thought that these parties hadn't been held for five years?" I asked.

"They haven't. We were seven last time." Lucius said. "Well, I was." He added, eying Bellatrix whose birthday was in a few days.

"Anyway," She said rather loudly. "Just because we were nearly half the age we are now doesn't mean we don't remember what happens at these _things_." She said things like she was disgusted, grimacing a bit as she did so.

"What? The fact that you have to wear a dress and act like a girl for one night a year?" It was Sirius who spoke and it was for the first time since we left the house.

Bellatrix scowled at him. "Oh shut up."

"Am I not right, Lucius?" He said, turning to the one person in the room who he knew without a shadow of a doubt would agree with him if for no other reason than to spite Bella.

"Quite." He muttered, looking over me to her. "And what a lovely little matching threesome you all make." He now eyed Andromeda and Narcissa.

Bellatrix was forcibly grinding her teeth and when she spoke she dropped her arm from underneath her chin to the couch arm. "Oh shut the hell up. My fucking mother dressed me."

"BELLA!" Andromeda was the scolding sister this time. "Language." She said, sounding much like a mother.

"Oh piss off." The angry Black hissed.

Narcissa gasped and Andromeda sighed. She really was a lost cause to the both of them. She would never be proper like they were. She would never enjoy wearing dresses like Narcissa. She would never be a proper lady like Andromeda. She wasn't a pretty little thing for her parents to show off. She was a feisty little thing, with catching looks—and Holy Hell, what am I thinking? Catching looks? Bellatrix?

I turned my attention back to the group again. Regulus was yawning. Sirius had stretched out in his chair, head on one arm and legs on the other. Rabastan was slouched down as well. "Tired?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Just bored."  
Regulus nodded in agreement and added "Very."

"Get used to it." Lucius said. "You'll be like this all night."

We ended up discussing what would be the most horrible thing to happen to Bellatrix on her birthday. I had no idea how we got on that subject, but we stayed on it for the rest of the night. In the end, we ended up all taking Regulus' idea. We had all agreed that if she found out she had to be handcuffed to Lucius for the rest of her life, she might kill herself.

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Our parents found us sometime after midnight. All of us were asleep, tumbled over the couches and one another like a pack of wolves huddling for a nap. They each woke us up, untangling us from one another, led us downstairs and handed us our coats. Every one of them smelled of alcohol and was having trouble with keeping their balance. As my family made its way down the stairs and into the foyer, Bellatrix came bounding down the stairs herself and nudged me in the side. "Told you." She commented, nodding to my rather unbalanced parents in front of us. I stifled a yawn and nodded.

"Glad to know that you're parents are roped into the Malfoy circuit too." She muttered, then stepped back up the stairs to join her clan-sized family.

After some more talking between the adults about things none of us particularly understood or cared to, we all went our separate ways. Sirius, Regulus, and their parents back to their home in London: Bellatrix, her sisters, and parents back to their seaside manor; Lucius, up the stairs to his bedroom; and me and my foursome went home to our own seaside manor.

Rabastan and I were tucked away into bed. I fell asleep immediately, but even as I drifted off, I could still hear Rabastan stumbling about his room in the dark, no doubt excited as all get out about tomorrow. What ten year old wouldn't be?

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"RODOLPHUS! RODOLPHUS!" I awoke to find Rabastan sitting on top of me, shaking me by my shoulders. "IT'S CHRISTMAS RODOLPHUS!" He squealed in my ear.

I didn't move from my bed, just stared at him, then rolled over somehow with him staying attached to me. "CHRISTMAS!" He repeated again as if I had not understood it the first time.

"It's morning. Rabastan! Morning!" I said drowsily. Picking up my pillow, I placed it over my head, trying to block out his screams of excitement. Merlin! I loved the boy and wanted him to be happy, but for the love of all that was stupid, he could have let me sleep on. The thought occurred to me that he had been up for quite some time now, waiting until he thought I had had enough sleep before jumping on me and squealing like a captured pig. With a groan, I rolled over and watched him. He looked like a cat, head tilted to the side, eyes, again, twice their usual size as they always were when he was excited.

"Fine." I muttered with a smile. "I'm up. I'm up."

He squealed again and jumped from me onto the floor and began nearly sprinting over to the door. I rolled slowly out of bed, far less enthusiastic than he was, and stumbled to the door. It was cold in the hallway, so I found myself waking back into my room for a sweater to put on my naked torso. It clashed horribly with my red plaid pajama pants, but life went on and I was far too sleepy to worry with finding something that wasn't a horrid orange color.

Stepping into the hallway, I saw Rabastan standing at the top of the stairs literally jumping up and down. "C'mon! HURRY!" He said, running up to me and tugging me along with his down the stairs.

"Rabastan, clam down. The presents aren't going to sprout legs and walk away." I said stifling a yawn.

Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks and looked up at me. Without saying a word, he bolted the rest of the way down the stairs, leaving me to trod along after him. Obviously, he thought they would grow legs and my statement had only made his suspicions worse.

When I entered the living room, I found Mere and Pere sitting by the tree on one of the couches, sleepy smiles plastered on their faces. It looked as if Rabastan had awoken them before he had awoken me. Mere was clutching a cup of strong tea in her hand, steam billowing up from the confines of the cup.

"Happy Christmas, Roddie." She said sleepily.

"Happy Christmas, Mere." I replied back.

Looking to the window, I saw that the sun wasn't even up yet. It was still slightly dark outside, the sky painted a sleepy grey with just a spec of light hitting here and there.

I heard a substantial amount of ripping and scrambling around and turned sharply back to the tree. Rabastan already had his first three presents open. He was tangled in the paper, parts of cut up angels and snowy cottages stuck to his clothes and several bows stuck in his hair. I chuckled at him before sitting down in front of the tree and beginning to sniff around for my own presents.

I got the usual load—sweaters, books, chocolate, a new broom servicing kit. Rabastan got about the same, though his sweaters were smaller, amount of books less, and amount of chocolate nearly doubled. Opening yet another sweater, this one black, I remembered something I had until then forgotten. Tomorrow was Bellatrix's birthday. I had already been shopping, with Sirius, him helping me pick out the perfect present. While Bellatrix was my best friend, I didn't know that much about her. I knew what she liked, but I couldn't possibly wrap up those things in a box and put a bow on it. She wasn't very materialistic either. Plus, she was a girl, and a weird one at that, so shopping for her was harder than it was for anyone else in the world. I had picked out what I believed to be the perfect present though. It was sensible and there was no way in hell she wouldn't like it.

I got up from the floor and pushed my presents aside. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Make that hours." Rabastan said, or what I thought to be Rabastan since all I could see was a mound of ripped paper and bows.

I rolled my eyes and walked from the room, heading to my own to get dressed.

This was the first year I was actually ever going to give Bellatrix a present for Christmas and it made me slightly nervous. What if she hated it and disowned me as a friend because my ability to purchase the perfect gifts wasn't quite up to par? In the last few months we had become closer, closer than Lucius and I were anyway, and it only seemed fitting to me to give my closest friend a present on the holiest of all holidays.

-------------------------

I knocked on the door and Cygnus answered. "Rodolphus." He said, eying the package in my hands. "Come in." I entered and took of my jacket, handing it to Freem who had immediately run up to my side. He scurried away with it to the cloak room and Mr. Black eyed me warily again before saying "They're all in the den."

I nodded and thanked him before trudging through the large house to where he had pointed. I could hear giggles and talking coming from inside the den even when I was a few halls away from it. Coming into the room, I looked around. All three girls and their mother were still in their pajamas. Narcissa had several pink and gold bows from various presents stuck in her hair and was prancing around, modeling for her sisters. Andromeda was laughing at her hysterically for the little seven year old was being followed around by her older sister who was mimicking her every move with precise detail and some exaggeration. One hand on her hip and the other poised out in the air, Bellatrix was flouncing around behind Narcissa, twisting her non-existent hips this way and that and every time the blonde would look around to see what Andromeda was laughing at, the other sister would pause in mid action and pretend to just be standing there behind her.

It was quite the spectacle to watch and highly entertaining. It was Druella, with a smile who actually announced my arrival. "Rodolphus." She said, in a slightly amused ton. The three heads, blonde, black, and brunette all turned in my direction, three sets of eyes zooming in on me and the box I was carrying along with those of their mother's.

"I…could I see Bellatrix?" I asked with a somewhat forced smile.

"Sure." Druella replied, but before the word had even left her mouth, her oldest daughter was darting to me and dragging me through the doorway and back into the hallway.

"Happy Christmas." I said, holding the wrapped package out to her.

Her face fell for a moment but then her lips curved into a smile. I sighed with relief as she took the package and tore, not frantically but not neatly either, at the paper. Throwing the paper aside, she opened the box and looked in at the gift.

"A sweater." She remarked, staring down at it.

I nodded. She seemed a bit put off. Was she? I watched as she took it from the box and threw it aside as well. It was a black turtle neck, sensible and useful, but maybe not the right gift. I shuffled around nervously as she held it up to her then twisted it and held it out from her. That was when she noticed it—sewn into the bottom part of the collar in silver letters were the initials B.B. I watched her eyes grow slightly wider then curve upwards as a smile spread across her face again.

"I like it." She said. She didn't thank me. That wasn't like her and we both knew that, but at least she liked it. She pulled the sleeves onto her arms then shoved her head, with some difficulty through the narrow hole at the top of the sweater. I caught her as she stumbled and righted her. Folding down the collar, she looked at me and I watched her face fall momentarily. "But I didn't get anything for you."

I smiled and shrugged. "Don't worry about it, just meet me tomorrow at my house. You're not wriggling out of playing quidditch just because you didn't get me a present." Every year on her birthday the two of us played quidditch at my house. Every year without fail, we met, just the two of us, and battered the brains out of each other and laughed ourselves silly.

She smirked. "I won't."

"You'd better not." I warned.

"I owe you one though." She stated, playing with the sleeves of her sweater.

"No you don't."

She suddenly stepped on my toe rather forcefully. "I do."

"Okay, you do." I pulled my foot back slightly, the pain throbbing through my big toe.

She leaned up and kissed me on the cheek, pulling back she said "That's what I thought."

I shoved my hands in my pocket and grinned slightly. "Right, so see you tomorrow?"

"Yes. I thought we'd already established this."

"We have, but I'm just making sure."

"You need to make sure you look in a mirror more often." She stated.

I felt my eyebrows knit together as I stared at her confused.

She reached up to my head and retrieved something. I felt my hair pull slightly. Holding out a red bow to me she said "This was on top of your head."

I smiled, taking the bow from her. "It's Christmas, Bellatrix. You've got to get into the festive mood." I teased. "And besides, if you didn't like the sweater, I was going to be your present."

I took the bow and placed it on top of her head then turned and headed down the hall with my hands in my pockets. "Happy Christmas." I called out after her.


	8. Summer Break Begins

longish chapter this time. i think it pretty much explains itself. i had fun writing it and i also cried. D:

* * *

The next day was bliss. There was no Lucius, for one. It was just me and Bellatrix. We played quidditch from sunup to sundown, never once stopping. We laughed, we joked, we smiled. Our parents did not interfere, and neither did any siblings. I had my best friend to myself with no interruptions whatsoever. That night, long after the sun had gone down, when we finally went in, we found her family and mine waiting for her with a birthday cake and presents. She got everything she wanted and also got her face shoved in her cake by Sirius, who in turn, got hit upside the head by her broom. Her parents, with slight persuasion from Mere, let Bella stay over for the night.

She in turn, persuaded Mere that she didn't need to stay in a guest room, that she was quite fine in mine.

"I won't be treated like a queen. I'll be perfectly happy on the floor." I could only smile and shake my head at her enthusiasm and spunk at the late hours of the night. With several yawns, and with Rabastan at her heals, my mother fixed Bellatrix up a pallet on the floor beside my bed and left us to our whiles.

I got dressed in my room and Bellatrix took to the bathroom after I gave her a thorough explanation of how I did not wish to relive the train stripping incident. Once I had lain down on my bed, I realised that I wasn't tired. I was not going to sleep any time soon. Tossing around for a few minutes, I rolled over and peered down on the floor into the dark. "Bellatrix."

"What?"

"Today was a good day, wasn't it?"

"You're a moron." I couldn't see her but I could hear her laugh.

"Why, because I enjoy spending time with my friend?" I inquired.

"Yes. Exactly."

I crawled out of bed and slid down onto the pallet beside her. "How does that make me a moron?"

"You're on my leg."

"Oh." I shifted and tried to see her in the dark, but I couldn't make out any more than a silhouette. Giving up, I said "You still haven't answered my question."

"Which was?"

"Oh my Merlin, Bella, don't play stupid."

"Who says I'm playing?"

"I do."

Before I knew what was happening, I felt a huge weight crash down on my stomach, causing me to collapse to the floor. At the same time, my hands were being pinned out away from my body.

"What the hell are you doing?" I hissed, quite taken aback by her actions. It wasn't every day that she attacked me when I couldn't see her.

"Playing." She answered simply. "Obviously you didn't know the meaning of the word and needed it defined." She licked the side of my face and I did all but scream.

Flailing out madly, I pushed her off of me and wiped my cheek. "Don't ever do that again."

"And why not?"

"Because I said so." I retorted, still trying to get her germs off of me.

"Because you _liked_ it."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

I heard some rustling then she was silent for several minutes. Just as I was thinking of crawling back into my bed, something came flying through the air and smacked me in the face. I cradled my nose with one hand and picked what felt like a heavy book up with the other. "What's this?"

"A dictionary. I thought you could use it, since you've got no clue what anything means."

"Why do I…." But I trailed off. Crawling into bed, I found that my nose was bleeding. After stifling it with the edges of my sheets, I finally lay back down, quite happy to go to sleep now.

A sing-song greeting drifted up from the floor. "Goodnight, Rodolphus."

I sighed exasperatedly. "Goodnight, Bellatrix." And threw the dictionary back at her.

-------------------------------------

The rest of term passed by without so much as a bump, so did that summer. During those warm days, our little group was back together again. It was as if nothing had changed and as if school had never happened. Bellatrix constantly told stories to her sisters about Hogwarts, stories which were skewed in view in order to add some fun to it from her point of view. She told Narcissa that the giant squid ate blondes and told Andromeda that talking was strictly prohibited in some areas at odd intervals of the day.

Second year went by in another blur. Andromeda joined us at school and it took loads of convincing on my part to get her to speak after she was sorted. Bellatrix then began what she would do every month for the rest of her Hogwarts career: she started writing to her parents. She told them that Andromeda had been successfully sorted into Slytherin, along with a few other things, which she never told me of and refused to let me see.

Lucius and I tried out for the Slytherin quidditch team. To Malfoy's surprise we both made the cut, replacing two older students who had graduated the year before. Lucius was the seeker and I was the third chaser. With little practice, and a bit of bragging, we both rose in ranking in the Slytherin House. We were not quite a force to be reckoned with, but we figured, give it a year or two, work carefully, and we would be running the House. Together, we began laying down plans and making friendships with the right people. We both snuck out on Hogsmeade trips to meet our current superiors and just to prove we had the guts to do it.

Bellatrix, was doing very little work, and already seemed to have the house at her feet. Known as "That fucking little second year that could kill you" she had the older students as afraid of her as they were in awe of me and Lucius. Our new found companions started asking about our little friend that was a girl. I don't quite know how Bella never figured out about mine and Lucius' little side trips and plans for world domination. I figured that she did find out, but just never said anything. She was too busy pissing her dorm-mates off and constantly keeping the older students on their toes. I had to give it to her. While she wasn't going about it in the same way Lucius and I were, she was certainly making a reputation and laying a foundation for herself in the House of Slytherin.

Her sister on the other hand settled in quite nicely and was making a few friends here and there. Andromeda was teased only once. Some older bloke walked by her one day as she was sitting on the sloping lawns. She was reading, like Andromeda always did. He ripped the book from her hand and tossed it into the lake. Bella had just been coming out of the castle and saw it all. Without warning, or much care, she had the sixth year swimming through the Black Lake to get her sister's book out, with his teeth and when he had returned to shore, she rammed his head into a tree, forced him to eat dirt, made him cry, turned his legs to jello, and then made him stagger an apology to Andromeda, whom just meekly took her book back and muttered a small 'Thank you Bella.' Andromeda was never messed with again, or asked out on a date till her fifth year.

Life was good and the school was familiar. The work load was either much lighter, or I had just grown accustomed to it. No earth shattering events took place and second year came and went without so much as a rustle.

-------------------------------------

"Just call out for someone."

"What if no one answers."  
"Then you call again. Go on, Regulus."

We were standing in the front hall of the Malfoy Manor, fresh from being flooed. My mother had insisted that I pay Lucius a visit and invite him over for the weekend. She constantly reminded me that I needed to keep my friends close to me and not let them meander off during summer breaks. It had only been two weeks since school broke up, so I thought she might be over reacting just a little or either was trying to push aside the fact that Rabastan was sick again by inviting another boy over. She would then hear two sets of footfalls on the stairs every day and could pretend life was going on normally and that Rabastan wasn't wrenching his guts out. I had, of course, not wanted to go to the Malfoy Manor alone. Having only been but once, I didn't know quite what to expect, so I had asked for an accompaniment and Regulus, always eager for the adventure had come to the rescue. We stood now, looking around for any sign of life, but to no avail. I nudged Regulus in the side. Timidly he called out, barely above a normal voice. "Lucius?"

I felt slightly dirty standing in their rather expensively decorated and well polished house with ash traces on my trousers. Either way, Latona Malfoy didn't seem to mind. She crossed over up to us from a hallway that led to somewhere in the back of her house. Whether or not she had heard Regulus' strangled cry, I didn't know. A smile teetering on her lips, she greeted Regulus and myself as if she were accustomed to seeing dirty boys in her house (everyone on earth knew Lucius Malfoy never got dirty if he could help it). "Oh, Lucius?" She asked us. "He's up in his room." She pointed up the stairs against the wall behind her. "Third floor, first door on the left."

I set off, Regulus tagging behind me. Reaching the top of the stairs, I looked back to see that the mother of the house had disappeared. The stairs were enormous and took forever to climb. Finally we reached the second floor. Regulus stopped and leaned against the wall. "There were ninety-seven of those buggers. NINETY-SEVEN!"

"Regulus, keep it down." I didn't think that shouting would prove the most intelligent thing to do, not in this house anyway. It was not like the Black Manor or my own manor. There weren't lots of children always running around at adults' feet. There was just one: Lucius and I highly doubted he frolicked around like a maniac like the Black that stood beside me did.

"Oh don't get your knickers in a bunch." He said, waving his hand at me. "Stop for a minute. I'm buggered."

"Okay fine." And I started walking ahead, very slowly; wanting to get a closer look at a suit of armor I saw standing at the other end of the hall. Walking up to it, I noticed it was over four times my size. Solid gold, it almost touched the low ceiling, missing it by just inches. I heard Regulus panting his way up the hallway. Then I heard a crash.

I looked around to see what he had fallen against now, but he seemed to be just fine and was still on his feet. An inspection of the corridor found that there was nothing for him to have fallen against either, the nearest thing for him to bump in to was the suit of armor I stood in front of. "Don't leave me."

Then there was a screaming voice, loud and pissed by the sounds of it. "DON'T YOU EVER….." Then it trailed off to a whisper. I craned my neck in all directions trying to catch where the sound was coming from.

By now, Regulus had stopped walking and was looking around to. Silently he pointed to the door beside the suit of armor.

I turned back to the face the door with wide eyes. From where I was I could hear once side of the conversation.

"GET YOUR SNIVELLING HIDE UP BOY!" There was another loud crash.

"I SAID GET UP!" Someone scrambled to their feet inside, knocking several things off a shelf in the process.

"HOW COULD YOU LET THAT BOY BEAT YOU OUT FOR THE SPOT?"  
A long bought of silence.  
"OH HE DIDN'T BEAT YOU! HE DIDN'T BEAT YOU?" What sounded like a body being thrown against a wall. "I'LL BEAT YOU!" Fast footsteps.

I looked over at Regulus and swallowed hard. What was going on in there? I recognized the screaming voice as Abraxas. What was he mad at though and who was he beating the living day lights out of?

"THAT BOY GETTING A SPOT ON THE TEAM IS AS GOOD AS YOU NOT MAKING IT! AND THAT….THAT GIRL!" He said the word girl like it was something foul, bad, something that should never be said by anyone anywhere. "THAT GIRL HAS THE EXACT SAME MARKS YOU HAVE IN EVERY CLASS!"

Another sound of a body hitting the wall followed by the unmistakable sound of a shelf toppling over. There were footsteps again, this time coming near the door. I threw myself behind the armor, urging Regulus to do something, anything.

"Move!" I hissed, pointing at the door. "Now!"

He panicked, looked around wildly, then dashed down the hall with lightening speed, disappearing down the stairs just as the door opened.

Abraxas emerged; straightening out his collar and rolling his sleeves back down. He stood in the door for quite some time. My heart was beating so fast and loud that I knew there was no way he could not hear it. He looked around, up and down the hall, and then looked back into the room. "You disgust me." He spat and headed down the hall the way Regulus had gone only seconds before.

Abraxas disappeared from sight and I collapsed against the wall and slid down beside the suit of armor. I had never been so scared in my entire life. I thought for sure that he was going to catch me and I knew that if he would have, he would have done something horrible. I was breathing heavily and shaking all over. Slowly, I regained control of my body and pushed myself from the floor. My legs were wobbly at first, but after steadying myself against the wall, I could stand straight. I took in a deep breath and looked down the hall. It seemed that wherever Regulus had run off to, he hadn't been found. Everything was quiet, everything except for someone sobbing.

In all my own excitement I had almost forgotten that Abraxas Malfoy had to have been screaming at someone. I pushed myself from the wall and neatly walked around the suit of armor. With apprehensive steps, I neared the room. At first glance, it looked like any old study and surprisingly, everything had been put back in its place. I had expected chaos, destruction beyond belief from what I had heard, but everything was right where it should be. My eyes continued to trace around the room and landed on the farthest corner from the door.

In the corner sat Lucius Malfoy, huddled up, shaking uncontrollably and sobbing hysterically. He was gasping for air and failing to succeed, each breath growing shorter and more rapid than the one before it. He sat with his arms wrapped around his knees, curled up into a ball.

It hit me like a brick what it had all been about then. I was the boy his father had been shouting about; the one that made the quidditch team and Bellatrix was the girl; that vile horrible word no one should say.

Slowly, I walked toward him. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I could do something. We weren't the best of friends, but we were still friends, no matter how strangely. "Lucius?"

He looked up. The look I saw in his eyes was something I only saw once and I think I will never see again. The image, I knew then, would be forever burned into my mind. He was frightened beyond belief. If his shaking and labored breathing were not enough to cause concern, then his eyes were. "Get out." He muttered and put his head between his knees.

I didn't ask the obvious question: does your father beat you? That much was perfectly clear and it would do no good for me to ask him of it. There was a cut running along one of his hands, and I swore I had seen a black eye. "Lucius….I…" I trailed off. Nothing in my upbringing had prepared me for what to say to a kid who had just been beaten by his father. "I'm…I'm sorry." It was the only thing I could think of to say. It was stupid to say it, hindsight; it wasn't as if he would magically feel better if I said it. He didn't look up at me, so I continued on and took slow steps toward him. I sat down softly beside him, but when I reached out to touch him, he shrank away and drew into an even tighter ball as his breathing worsened.

"Lucius." I reached out again, this time he let me. My hand resting on his shoulder, I looked down at him. He was so shaken and scared. "It's….it's….." I choked on words, holding back. It's okay? Fuck no it wasn't. Nothing was okay about this. "I'm here." I finally muttered. "I'm here."

I sat with him for I don't know how long; minutes, hours. He slowly gained control over his haggard breathing, but was still shaking violently. At one point, he leaned against me and started wailing his eyes out, at another, he was pushing me away, refusing to let me touch him. Occasionally he drew in a sharp breath or two, then looked sideways at me with a look that I didn't even dare contemplate. All I could do was sit there and say "I'm here."

In time, he had calmed down. I patted him on the back. "Mere says you can come over, any time you want this summer." Now, I dearly wanted him to come over, if for nothing but to get him out of reach of his father. I pushed myself off the floor as he nodded bleakly at me. When I reached the door he called out.

"Rodolphus?"

I turned around and looked into those broken grey eyes.

"Don't tell anyone."

I nodded, held his gaze, and headed out of the room.

I found Regulus hiding in a closet in a hallway off the front room. "What happened?" He asked me the minute I found him.

"Not now. Let's get out of here first."

Shutting the door to the closet carefully behind me, I grabbed him by the arm and we headed down the hallway together. Stopping just outside the front room, I pushed him into the shadows created by the doorway as a house elf walked by. There was a knock on the door, which he ran to answer. He let someone in that I couldn't see and escorted him to a door on the opposite side of the room.

"Okay, coast clear." I muttered and we made a mad dash across the foyer to the fireplace. I found the matches to light the fire, neglected on the floor beside the grate and picked them up. "Quick, look for the floo powder." I urged and Regulus complied, fumbling with his hands on top of the mantelpiece as I frantically tried to keep a look out and light a match at the same time.

"SHIT….HIDE!" And we had no choice but to duck into the unlit fireplace and shut the grate before Abraxas walked by. I heard him disappear into the room that the guest had been led in to. "You stay here." I whispered and I slowly slid the grate apart and crawled out from the fireplace. Covered in soot, I crawled around to look on my knees. I could see Abraxas' long shadow against the wall of the room, but that meant that unlike previously, the door was not shut.

I motioned for Regulus to climb out and he followed suit. Then I pointed to the mantle and he went back on his search for the floo powder. I lit the fire carefully, trying not to make the slightest of noises. Luckily, when I struck the match, the man in the room with Abraxas laughed very loudly, disguising any noise.

I heard the sound of footsteps again. I looked around wildly. There was no where for us to hide. The fireplace was currently hosting a fire and there was no way we could close the grate to hide the fire and make it back to the hallway we had come from in time. "Hurry!" I pleaded.

It was then that Regulus found the bag of floo powder. He took it from the mantle and tried to undo the string at the top of the small bag. "Rodolphus, it's not working."

"Keep trying." I urged, throwing the matches aside.

"It's not working. It won't open." He looked up, frantic, mouth agape.

The steps were coming closer and closer, down the stairs. I spared a glance over my shoulder and saw the edge of Latona's heels appear on the stairs. I seized the entire bag from Regulus and threw it into the fire. It roared up, scorching the insides on the fireplace and turning the flames green. Grabbing him by the hand, I lunged into the flames and shouted "LESTRANGE MANOR!"

A minute later found me lying in my kitchen on my back with Regulus on his stomach a few feet away. Mere appeared above me. "So, how did it go?"


End file.
